Love, No Restrictions
by lilmissryry
Summary: Rose & Dimitri finally let down all walls seperating their love. But when the school is attacked again, will they be seperated... forever? Will they never get the happy ending they deserve? Before BP, Dimitri was never turned. Thanks for reviewing guys!
1. The Gym

**Hey guys, it's Ryan. **I've finally uploaded my first story! I might add more chapters to this, depending on what kind of feedback I receive **:)** So R&R, enjoy, and please, go easy on me! Oh, and you know the deal **- all characters in my story belong to Richelle Mead. **I only own the plot **:) **Thanks!

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"Ungh!" I grunted as I packed as much ferocity as I could into my punch, but even as I watched the punching bag fly back and slap against the wall, I still felt no satisfaction, no release. Sighing, I slumped back against the wall, sliding down till my butt hit the floor and leaned my head back, closing my eyes. It was early in the morning, and most everyone was asleep.

Except for me, of course.

Not too long ago, I had woken up in a cold sweat, gasping from the severity of my dream. Dimitri had played the starring role; no surprise there. Everything I ever dreamt involved him. But in this dream, things had been getting . . . well, pretty hot and heavy, to say the least. It was almost like a continuation of what could have happened in Dimitri's bedroom the night Lissa was kidnapped and ex-Prince Victor amplified mine and Dimitri's feelings for each other through a lust charm to distract us. I had tried for hours after that to shake off what can only be called my largest desire wrapped in a dream, but it was to no avail. So I had eventually gotten up, thrown on a sport's bra and sweats, and headed to the gym.

I thanked my lucky stars that it was empty and the doors were unlocked. Not that I had expected anyone else to be using it at the crack of dawn, but still. I burned off all negative emotions and unwanted feelings through combating with Dimitri (which I was finding very ironic, considering he was currently the source of my problems), and even though I wouldn't be practicing _with_ him, I figured the principles were still the same.

Currently, though, I wouldn't say my fighting was doing much for me. I had kept trying to nail this punch-dodge-kick combo Dimitri was teaching me, but I couldn't get it down. So I just resorted to throwing random, sloppy hits at the punching bag. That last one had been all I had.

So there I sat, sweaty and panting, finally letting all of my defenses down to just_ think_.

I thought about the feel of Dimitri's lips on mine . . . the way his touch makes me want to lose myself in him . . . how his smile is all it takes to bring me out of my worst of moods . . . and finally, _finally_ . . . the way he held me, kissed me, showed _in his eyes_ just how much he loved me and wanted me that night we were under the lust spell. . . .

"Rose? Do you know how much trouble you'd be in if another person found you in here?"

I groaned. Damn it, I was having wish fulfillment. I think about the Russian god, and all of a sudden I can hear his voice.

"Roza? Are you all right? Answer me!"

I was about to tell the Dimitri-voice to leave me alone, can't you see I'm having a mental breakdown? But a hard, head-wobbling shake woke me up from the daze I had been stuck in.

Caught off guard, I sprung up, throwing the intruder's hands off of me. But before I could get my fist fully out to land a blow, another hand grabbed it and twisted my arm behind my back, spinning me around and pinning me to the wall. They pressed their body against mine, trapping me there as I struggled restlessly against them, about to scream out. But then a hand clamped over my mouth. And before I could bite down, the scent of after shave hit me, and soon after, I heard a voice in my ear.

"Rose, stop. It's just me."

I had stopped fighting him a second before he opened his mouth. Dimitri sensed this and stepped back, allowing me room to breathe. I wiped a hand across my forehead and face, hastily trying to make myself look a bit more presentable. So many things were wrong here. I had come to the gym to _escape_ Dimitri, but now here he was. Then, I had acted like a complete and utter fool by first ignoring him because I thought I was just hallucinating, and then attacking him. Not to mention the fact my hair was mussed and I was all smelly from sweat. Some good impression of a future guardian (and seductress) I was making.

Still trying to catch my breath and forget about how totally embarrassing this all was, I looked up at Dimitri, about to ask why he was here. But the words froze in my throat when I followed his gaze.

His eyes were roaming over my body, and were full of an obvious appreciation for what was before him. And then I realized all I had on was a skimpy sport's bra and sweatpants from last year that had grown a little snug from the muscle I had packed on.

I tried to casually cross my arms, not wanting Dimitri to sense my discomfort. Don't get me wrong; I was entirely loving the way he was blatantly checking me out, and I know that with any other guy I would have been flaunting my body for all it was worth. But that was just it. This _wasn't_ any other guy. This was Dimitri Belikov, badass guardian and super-hot mentor. And up until now, he hadn't really been showing any signs of wanting to jump on me and hook up then and there, except for the occasional make-out sessions and longer-then-necessary touches; all of which were quickly followed by lectures on how wrong our feelings for each other were and how it wouldn't happen again - couldn't happen again - no matter what.

Sadly, though, as soon as I crossed my arms he was back to guardian-formal business, nothing left in his eyes but a curious glint that could be taken as nothing more than wonder at why I was in here. But first I had to know why _he_ was here.

"Hey, comrade. . . ." I stopped and coughed in my fist, trying desperately to get rid of the lingering awkward air surrounding us. "What are you doing here?"

He stared back at me, crossing his arms across his chest as well. "I should be asking you the same thing, Rose."

I cleared my throat again, this time doing it to stall. I didn't want to answer his question, so I stared at my sneakers. After a while, I saw him move from the corner of my eye.

"Come," he said to me, walking over to a corner of the room and dragging out a couple of mats. He gracefully sat down on the floor and folded his legs, gesturing for me to do the same. I gingerly lowered myself to the mat. "Rose, do you know that if anyone found you in here at this time of day you could be in big trouble?"

"I know," I said dryly, still not meeting his eyes. "You already told me that."

I heard him sigh. "Rose," he tried again, "what were you thinking coming in here? Is something wrong?"

Finally, I looked up and stared directly into his eyes. I don't know what came over me in that moment, but we could chalk it up to sexual tension, right? "Yes," I said. "Yes, Dimitri, something's wrong."

I watched him tense. "What is it? Is Lissa alright?"

I let out a puff of air, impatient. "She's fine. She's in her room, sound asleep." I didn't add how happy I was about that. Usually she'd be up in the church attic with Christian, going at it.

Dimitri's face scrunched into a question mark. "Then what . . .?" He stopped, and his features morphed into worry. He leaned towards me. "Rose, were you feeling spirit's dark effects again?"

This was really driving me insane now, no pun intended. "No!" Dimitri's eyebrows shot up at the outburst. "No, Dimitri, Lissa's fine and I'm fine. Well, I'm fine in the sense of spirit's side effects. But I'm _not_ fine with us."

Dimitri sat back against the wall again. "What's wrong with us?" he asked. I couldn't read any emotions on his face. His eyes held nothing.

"Everything!" I scooted closer to him, close enough for me to touch his face without fully extending my arm. I didn't actually do this, of course. "We're made for each other, Dimitri. We want each other, that much is clear. But I don't want to keep hiding my feelings. I don't want to kiss you in a dark corner one moment, and then hear a sermon that would make Father Andrew proud on how wrong it was the next. I just want to love you."

I braced myself for an onslaught of those said lectures, but what came next shocked me to my core.

Dimitri studied me for a moment before reaching for my hand and playing with it, tracing patterns on my palm as he thought out his words. "I want to love you too, Roza. I _do_ love you. And I'm tired of trying to deny it as well." He looked up into my eyes, and I found sincerity there.

My breath caught a little. "Y-you do?"

The corners of his mouth turned up into a slight smile as he squeezed my hand. "I do. Do you know how often I think about you? Every day, Roza. All I want to do all day, every day, is hold you and kiss you. Do you know how often I fall asleep imagining you coming to my room that night?" I knew the night he was referring to - the night of Victor's lust charm. "Almost every night, Roza. I know we can get in trouble for this, and I know falling in love with my student wasn't the responsible thing to do. I've endangered not only your life, but Lissa's as well. But I still continue to love you."

I was stunned. Dimitri hadn't shown this much emotion since . . . ever. This side of him - this warm, loving side - was rarely seen. "I love you too . . . and I don't care if you've endangered my life. You also haven't endangered Lissa's, either. We both know we'll do whatever it takes to keep her safe, and she'll never have to fear as long as we're with her."

He smiled. "You're right." And for the first time ever, I saw Dimitri let his guard down, and the mask he always kept perfectly in place slipped completely. I saw Dimitri not as a guardian god, but as my equal, my other half, and my soon-to-be lover.

His mouth pressed against mine in a sweet and tender kiss, and one of his hands left my waist to tangle in the strands of my ponytail. I felt him remove the elastic band around it, slipping it onto his wrist. My hands probed until they found the hem of his shirt, and I tugged it up, sliding my hands across his chest. And then I pulled back.

"What's wrong?" he asked, slightly breathless from our kissing. His eyes held concern.

"I don't want to do this in the gym."

Understanding flashed in his eyes, and he smiled at me as he grabbed my waist and stood up, picking me up and carrying me. I rested my head on his shoulder as he walked. I had no idea where we were going, but I was in his arms, so I didn't care.

When we stopped, I saw that he had taken me into the woods on the side of the Academy. We were practically on the edge of the wards.

We were also standing in front of the same cabin Tasha Ozera, Christian's aunt, had stayed in when she visited the Academy for winter break.

Dimitri smiled down at me, kissing my hair. "Now we'll have a bed _and_ privacy."

I grinned. He carried me to the bed, and tenderly laid me on it. After removing his pants, he joined me, leaning on top of me but supporting most of his weight with his elbows so as not to crush me.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and clasped my legs around his waist, bringing his head down to mine so I could kiss him.

He pulled back a little, but only enough to where we could make eye contact. "Are you sure, Roza?" he asked.

I looked into his eyes for a moment. I knew I wanted this. I shouldn't have even had to think about it. But I wanted to make sure that if we went through with it, he wouldn't regret it later. His eyes told me everything I needed to know: he meant what he said in the gym - he was finished with lecturing me after every time we kiss. He wouldn't regret this.

Slowly, he began to remove every article of my clothing. I kicked off my sneakers as he finished.

I watched his eyes travel swiftly over my body, and my breath came faster. His breathing matched mine. "Roza, you're so beautiful. You've made me the happiest man alive since the day I brought you back to the Academy."

My heart swelled with love and joy. There was no way in the world this man could belong to me. But he did.

And as his lips travelled across my skin, passion consumed all else. The rest of our clothes came off, and our higher reasoning was replaced with an almost-animalistic sort of desire and need.

"I love you more than anything in this world. Are you sure you're ready?"

I didn't trust my voice to stay steady enough for me to give an answer. So instead, I nodded. Combined with the look I gave him, it was as strong a confirmation as any words I could've said.

Kissing my lips once more, I experienced the feeling of sex for the very first time.

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**So how was it? **Good? Bad? Okay? I need to know these things! As my first published baby, I have to know how it went! That attractive green button says you're sexy. So push it.**  
xoxo,  
**Ryan


	2. I Had a Dream

**You guys are great! **I'm absolutely loving the reviews. I swear I get a rush from reading them. I'm a **huge** review whore! Keep 'em coming! Here's another chapter. Enjoy!  
Oh, and** I own nothing but my awesome plot lines :)  
****Rated T.**

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Last night was magic.

And what's even more magical is the feeling of oneness you receive when lying in bed next to the one you love. I was currently doing this exact thing.

Dimitri and I made love for the first time ever, and when we were done we made use of the bed (besides what we already did in it) and fell asleep, wrapped in each other's arms. He didn't even care if he was supposed to be walking the school grounds in the morning. And I didn't care that I was supposed to be in class in a few hours. All we cared about - all we wanted - was each other.

Right now, I was lying awake, watching Dimitri sleep peacefully, his guard down and his face free of any hard lines. There's something about a person so normally stoic and battle-ready that it seems almost shocking when you see them carefree and relaxed. It's almost like you forget they're even a person . . . like you forget they have a life outside of being a strict, badass guardian. And on Dimitri, it was purely sexy.

I ran my fingers along his bare chest, cautious not to be too gentle or too rough. I didn't want him to wake up.

"Oh," I sighed. "What now?" I wish I had an answer to that. Before last night, we had been dancing circles around each other, so careful not to let our emotions override us. We didn't want anyone to find out about this - Queen Bitch Tatiana would've surely had us reassigned to separate us. I mean really; a guardian falling in love with another guardian? And even possibly - insert gasp here - _getting married _just like the Badicas' guardian? Absolute scandal. That was almost as bad as a Moroi and dhampir getting together. Not to mention the fact that I'm still a student and Dimitri is still my instructor. No, Kirova wouldn't even stand for that.

But now we still didn't have an answer. All of the walls of hesitation and held-back feelings finally came down between Dimitri and I, and yet we still don't know what to do about us, _and_ we were in even deeper.

I let out another long-suffering sigh. I was glad we had finally let our feelings run loose, but I was still so confused. And I couldn't even ask my best friend for support.

Suddenly, a thought came to mind.

Sitting up and wrapping the blanket around myself, I nudged Dimitri gently.

He groaned. "_Мама, я не готов получить вверх пока."_

My mouth fell open and I stared at him in shock for what must've been a long time. And then I laughed. For a long time.

"Dimitri! Wake up!"

Dimitri groggily opened his eyes, frowning lightly at me. When he saw me laughing, he sat up as well, stretching and looking at me like I was a madwoman.

When I finally quieted down, he looked at me for a while longer, as if making sure I was finished.

I grinned at him. "Morning, Comrade."

He watched me some more before speaking. "Are you alright, Roza?"

I laughed. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine, but you just said something really funny when I tried to wake you up."

He cast a wary glance at me. "What did I say?"

"Well, you said . . . actually, I don't know what the hell you said because you said it in Russian."

He smiled. "Ah, okay. I'm curious; can you try to repeat what I said?"

I attempted severely broken Russian as I relayed what he had muttered at me.

Dimitri laughed when I was finished. And laughed. _And laughed._ Is this what I was doing?

I frowned. "Hey, don't make fun of me - you know I don't know Russian."

He chuckled at my expression. "No, no, I'm not laughing at _you_. You actually repeated what I said pretty well. Well, at least I think I did. If what you told me is correct, I just said 'Mama, I'm not ready to get up yet.' Which is exactly what I told my mother every morning when she woke me up." I watched a smile and a far-off look grow on his face.

"You miss them, don't you?" I mused.

"Hm?" He looked back at me, the distant gaze gone, but the smile still there.

"I asked if you missed them. Your family."

He took my hand in his, tracing the lines on my palm with his finger. "Yes, I do. I think about them every day. Sometimes I wish I could go visit them."

I didn't know what to say to that, so I stayed silent, instead just observing his features - the strong, proud nose; high masculine cheekbones; soft and smooth lips.

"Of course I would take you with me," he continued. "Mama would love to meet you. It would be a great surprise, yes, but she'd treat you just like you were a part of the family. And my sisters would love you."

I grinned. "I'd like that."

He looked back up at me, smiling too. "I knew you would . . . Roza, why did you even wake me up in the first place? It's early."

It was such an abrupt turn in conversation that I had to take a moment to gather my thoughts. "Oh, it's about us. And Lissa."

"Lissa?" he asked. His face was a big question mark.

"Yeah. I never told anyone about us, about our feelings toward each other, and now that we've taken things this far, well . . . if Lissa ever found out she'd be heartbroken."

Dimitri nodded. "Yes, she would be."

I met his eyes. "So . . . do you think I can tell her?"

He met my gaze with a level one of his own. "Yes. She's your best friend, Rose. You guys have a bond that runs deeper than any I've ever seen, and I'm not just speaking of the psychic one. You can trust her. And she'll probably already be upset that you haven't told her about us a long time ago. You don't want to make it any worse."

I smiled. "You and your insane Zen lessons. . . ."

He laughed. "Come on, Roza. I have work in a few hours, and you have class. People are still asleep so we should leave as soon as possible to avoid unnecessary attention."

We got up and dressed as quickly as possible. I felt an excited thrill run through me every time I thought about telling Lissa. I also realized with a jolt that I had been keeping so much from her, more than I've ever thought before. And that made me feel horrible. But, I thought, I was going to tell her everything very soon. That was what mattered.

As we were walking out the door of the cabin, Dimitri stopped me. "I keep forgetting to ask - why were you in the gym so early in the morning yesterday?"

A slow grin spread across my face as I remembered that day's events. "I had a dream and I couldn't sleep. Fighting with you always makes me feel better, so I went to the gym to try and work it out. And then you showed up."

Dimitri smiled. "Can I ask what the dream was about?"

"Nothing we haven't already done."

"Oh. I see."

I laughed. "So what were you doing there?"

His smile grew. "I had a dream."

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So now Lissa will finally find out. **I took the advice I was given and added another chapter. If I'm lucky I can get _another_ one up tonight! Aren't I being the best little uploader? Pleaseeeee review! Love ya guys!**  
xoxo,_  
_**Ryan


	3. Secret's Out

**Hi everyone! **I apologize for the waits. It's just so busy with school and extra curriculars and stuff. But I promise to be more dedicated. I'll write during free period! Hey, the comments I've been receiving are terrific. Keep them comin' in guys! You're the people motivating me to write faster! Thanks for all the support. Enjoy chapter 3.**  
All characters belong to Richelle Mead.**

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"And this is why it is so very important to keep your Moroi safe. Miss Hathaway, pay attention. This is class time, not social-gathering time."

I looked up at the sound of my name. "Huh?"

Stan, or more formally, Guardian Alto, glared at me. "I said, _pay attention_. I swear it's a wonder you're even passing this class with as much time as you waste."

I glared back, but kept the thousands of comments swirling in my head to myself. Stan continued on with his lesson.

I met up with Lissa after class had let out. We had made plans to go up and chill in her dorm before dinner.

I matched my pace with hers as I caught up. "Stan must die, and it must be a slow and painful death."

Lissa laughed, giving me one of her Rose-you're-being-silly looks. "What did you do this time?"

I gaped at her. "_Me?_ I'm totally innocent! It was all Stan's fault this time."

The look didn't budge.

I sighed. "I was talking to Eddie."

Lissa grinned. "Yeah, I thought it would be something along those lines."

I bumped her hip with mine, causing her to stumble to the side a little before recovering herself. She attempted bumping me back, but I bounced away too quickly, laughing.

After a while, we arrived at her dorm room. She walked in, flouncing on her bed, and I took the beanbag chair in the corner.

"Okay, so what did you want to tell me?" Her words were casually interested, but through the bond I could feel her burning curiosity.

I let out a big breath . . . and stopped. I realized I had no clue on how to go about telling her about Dimitri and me.

She stared, worried, and I heard her send through the bond: _Rose, is everything okay?_

I tried my best to answer. "Uh-"

Suddenly, we heard a knock at her door. I couldn't help but think, _Great, here I am trying to tell her about me and Dimitri's super-secret relationship, and Fire Crotch has to come and ruin it 'cause he's feeling lonely and love-deprived._

Lissa cast me another concerned look, and then got up to answer the door. I couldn't see who it was from where I was sitting, nor could I hear very well, but I could definitely hear Lissa. And she was obviously surprised.

"Oh, Guardian Belikov. . . . What are you doing here?"

_Dimitri?_

I heard Dimitri murmur something to Lissa, and then she said, "Of course, yeah, I was just talking to Rose."

Dimitri walked in, spotted me in the beanbag chair, and smiled. What the hell was this about?

"That's perfect, Princess. Because we both actually have to tell you something."

Lissa, looking more wary than ever, walked back over to her bed to sit down. She sent: _What's going on Rose?_

Damned if I knew.

"Um, what do you guys want to tell me?" Lissa asked out loud.

Dimitri answered for the both of us. "I actually came here to tell you the same thing Rose wanted to because I thought she might like a little help."

So that's why he was here. He was right - I _did_ need help.

"Yeah, just a little. . . ." Lissa muttered.

"Princess, what we're about to tell you could get us in trouble, but Rose trusts you, so I do too. You'll keep our secret safe, right?"

Lissa's eyes widened a bit, and I could tell she was dying to know what it was, especially now that she knew Dimitri was involved. "Yes, of course! Anything you guys say is safe with me. Rose knows that."

Dimitri and I both smiled at her. He gave me a look, asking silently if I wanted to continue, and I gave a quick shake of my head. Despite his presence, I still couldn't bring myself to tell Lissa.

Dimitri turned back to her and grabbed my hand. Lissa's eyes immediately reacted to it, and I could see the astonishment and perplexity spelled out clearly upon her face. "Princess . . . Lissa . . . we're in love."

I braced myself for her reaction. I was stunned that the bond told me nothing, but for a second I swear I thought her heart stopped.

Eventually, she opened her mouth . . . and then abruptly closed it. Dimitri and I watched in silence, but unlike me Dimitri was smiling.

Lissa tried again. "Guardian Belikov . . . Rose . . . I don't . . . _what?_"

I was pleased to say I found my voice then. "Lissa, we're in love. I love Dimitri, and he loves me." Dimitri nodded in agreement.

Lissa still looked slack-jawed, which I guess was understandable. "Oh my gosh. . . . Rose, are you serious?" She looked back and forth between Dimitri and me, her eyes wild. She thought we were playing a trick on her.

"Yes, Princess, she is," Dimitri said.

"Please, call me Lissa," Lissa told him offhandedly. "But how?"

I gaped at her. "What do you mean, how? We just are. You know, like you and Fire Boy."

She glared momentarily at the use of my nickname for Christian, but didn't comment on it. "Well, I kind of got that when Dimitri told me five minutes ago. What I meant was . . . well . . ." She trailed off, and her eyes grew huge. I was ready, jumping up to clamp my hand over her mouth.

She shrieked a few incoherent, garbled words at me, her hands feebly trying to pry mine away. I realized that she hadn't been about to scream.

I sat back down in my beanbag chair, grimacing lightly. "Sorry, Liss."

She glared. "Rose, why didn't you tell me earlier? I'm your _best friend_. You could've trusted me with this!"

I could see that she was deeply hurt by this, and the bond showed me her emotions were running wild with sadness, disappointment, confusion, betrayal, and hurt. "I'm so sorry Lissa, I didn't mean to. . . . I had every intention of telling you, but no time ever seemed like the right time. And to be honest, Dimitri and I really had no idea what was going on between us. We just knew we had this . . . _strong_ attraction to each other. I guess I didn't tell you because Dimitri and I had been trying to ignore it because of how wrong it was."

Her expression lightened, and I could tell she forgave me. "Oh Rose, _I'm_ sorry. God only knows how hard this whole thing must've been for _both_ of you. But believe me, you honestly can tell me anything. Your secrets will always be safe with me, and so will Guardian Belikov's. I'd do anything it would take to help you."

I got up and hugged her, grinning. "I promise I won't ever keep anything from you, Liss. Thanks."

She hugged back, and murmured in my ear, "So this is why you won't go out with Adrian."

I groaned at the mention of our alcohol-addicted friend. "Yeah."

Lissa was grinning like a fool. "God, Rose, I still can't believe this. You and Guardian Belikov. . . . You know, I always thought something weird was going on between you two, but me and everyone else just figured you and Guardian Belikov were good friends."

I smirked. "Oh, yes, _very_ good friends."

She laughed. "How long?" she asked.

"Remember that trip we took to Missoula's mall? Well, we had been falling in love by then."

"How far have you two . . . um, gone?" As soon as the words were out, she smacked a hand over her mouth. "Oh jeez, I'm sorry!" Her eyes flickered to Dimitri. "You don't have to answer that. Really. I just wasn't thinking, but it's none of my business anyways."

I burst out laughing, and Dimitri joined in. I recovered first. "Aw, Liss, it's alright. We don't care if you know. We already agreed to tell you everything anyways. We just, uh, slept together last night." I coughed into my fist, and Dimitri was looking anywhere but into Lissa's eyes.

Lissa's jaw dropped. "_Rose!_"

"What?" I asked, jumping guiltily.

Dimitri and I stared as her disbelief morphed seamlessly into pure delight. "_You had sex with a twenty-four year old man!_" She jumped up, pulling me into a bear hug as she bounced me around the room.

I began laughing, and so did Dimitri. "I did," I chuckled. "Jealous?"

She ignored the last part, but we both squealed in girlish joy. Lissa then remembered Dimitri. "You had sex with my best friend!" She grinned gleefully at him. And then, apologetically, she clamped a hand over her mouth, mumbling muffled apologies again.

Dimitri smiled. "Yes, Lissa, I did."

She left my arms to run into his, grinning from ear to ear. "Guardian Belikov, we're practically in-laws!"

I clapped my hands together, so totally pleased at how this was all turning out. "I know, isn't it great?"

Dimitri smiled. "It's more than great, Roza. Lissa, you can call me Dimitri."

Lissa looked as though he just gave her some sort of rare, special permission by saying she could call him by his first name. "Thanks! But, uh, I hope you know that if you hurt Rose and you get into an accident, I _won't_ be healing you up. And I'll make sure Adrian doesn't either. In fact, I might break both of your legs, if they aren't already broken."

"_Liss!_" I gasped, shocked.

Dimitri looked nervous. Lissa snorted. "Oh gosh, I was _kidding_! I know you wouldn't do that to Rose, I can see it in your eyes _and_ your aura. But trust me when I say I'm absolutely happy for you two. You're perfect for each other."

Dimitri relaxed and smiled at her. "Thank you Lissa. That means a lot."

"Oh, no problem," she said. "So no one else knows about this? And not to put a damper on the lovey-dovey feel, but what are you guys going to do about graduation? It's only, like, a few days away."

"That's all taken care of," I said. "No one else knows but you, and Dimitri's going to try and get assigned to someone else at Court, like Christian, so that we'll always be together. This way we won't have to switch shifts and have to deal with seeing each other for only a few minutes at a time."

Lissa hopped up and down in place, still really happy about this all. "Great! Man, I didn't think this year could get any better, but I was so wrong. This is going to rock."

Dimitri opened the door for us, and we stepped through. "I must say I agree. But it won't rock if you guys are late to dinner. Let's go."

We laughed at his use of the word "rock", and I smacked his arm. But he was right.

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**How was it? **Lemme know! It only takes a minute from your daily life to review!** :) **Thank you!**  
_xoxo,  
_**Ryan


	4. Night of Fun

**Sorry it took a while to post this, fell asleep early last night. **I was too tired! But trust me, I had every intention to post... I was just tired... Thanks for reading, and please post reviews! Love you all!

**Warning: Language!**

**I own no characters, those belong to Richelle Mead (that lucky, lucky lady...)**

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_Bang, bang, bang_

I groaned, rolling over in my bed. It was early in the morning on a weekend. Who the hell would be stupid enough to bang on _my_ door? Who would even be up this early?

_Bang, bang, bang_

"I'm coming!" I shouted, throwing off the covers and getting out of the bed. On my way to the door, I picked up pair of sweats off the floor and pulled them on.

I opened the door, about to start cursing at whoever was on the other side of it for waking me up. But then I saw who it was.

"Oh, Dimitri. What are you doing here? You do know it's a Saturday morning, right?"

He ignored me. "Come on, you have to see this."

We ran down four hallways, three flights of stairs, and halfway across campus before I realized where we were headed.

"Dimitri, we don't have practice in the gym today," I said, already chilly from the cold and wanting to climb back in my bed.

Finally, he stopped running. We were standing in front of the door to the gym. "I know," he said. "But for today this isn't the gym."

I stared at him, and then placed my hand on his forehead, checking for a fever. Yeah, dhampirs didn't get sick too often, but it was possible he had caught something.

I pulled my hand back, frowning and dissatisfied. He had no fever, but this clearly was the gym. I had been practicing in this very place with him for over four months now. "Dimitri, I don't know what's wrong with you, but this _is_ the gym. It's been the gym for, oh, forever, I guess."

The corner of Dimitri's lips tugged up into the hint of a smile. "Nothing's wrong with me. And like I said before, this isn't the gym. Come inside with me."

Still skeptical, I entered the door he had pulled open for me. And I froze.

Dimitri was right - this wasn't the gym. This was a nightclub.

What had been the gym just yesterday had been fully transformed into what looked like a human nightclub. There was a disco ball hanging from the ceiling, a DJ booth on a stage in the middle of the room pushed up against the wall, and a bar - one that looked like it held real alcohol. Not to mention the thunderous body-pulsing music playing from the speakers.

Faintly, I heard the gym door close behind Dimitri as he walked up beside me. "What do you think?"

I barely noticed he had been speaking to me. Dimitri chuckled at my astonishment.

I turned around. "Okay, what'd I miss? Is this a joke? Or am I still sleeping?"

"No, you're awake. Trust me; you'd know you were too if you'd saw the look on your face when you opened your bedroom door."

"Well what the hell threw up on the gym and made it look a hundred times more fun?"

I heard a high-pitched, girlish laugh erupt from behind me. I whirled around.

"Lissa!"

Lissa ran up to me, pulling me into a massive hug. "Rose, look! Doesn't the gym look amazing?"

"Yeah," I said, stepping out of her arms to look at her. "It's definitely an improvement, but why? What's the occasion?"

Lissa looked shocked. "You mean you haven't heard yet?"

"With the way she's been sleeping like the dead ever since her trials ended, I'm honestly not surprised."

I glowered at Dimitri momentarily, and then turned my attention back to Lissa. "No, I hadn't heard about anything. What's going on?"

Lissa grinned. "A few days ago, a few Moroi asked Kirova if they could go to a club this weekend. She said no, of course, but eventually allowed them to have a party in the gym that looks like a nightclub. And she's even allowing minimal guardian and teacher supervision!"

I couldn't believe it - Kirova had never approved something like this, and lots of people in the past had asked. Unless . . . "Uh, Lissa, this whole thing is really cool and all, but they didn't use compulsion on Kirova, did they?"

Lissa looked shocked. "Rose! They would never do something like that! I can't believe you think so lowly of the Moroi students." I was just about to apologize for my radical idea when she added, "Well, they would never do something like that. But Adrian would." She grinned impishly again.

My mouth dropped for the second time today, and I laughed. "That drunk party boy would do something like that. I wonder why I didn't hear about this sooner though."

"You were kinda busy around the time I was looking for you to tell you."

I frowned. "Doing what?"

An awkward silence fell, and Lissa shuffled her feet, coughing. Dimitri avoided eye contact, pretending like he was scoping out the perimeters of the room for nonexistant Strigoi. I understood. "Oh. Right. Ha . . ."

"_Anyways,_" Lissa said, trying to clear the uncomfortable air, "The party's tonight, and we still have tons to do, so you could help out after you, uh, get dressed a bit more properly." She nodded at my attire.

I realized I was still wearing the skimpy camisole I had slept in last night and the rumpled sweats I had put on today. Not to mention the fact that my hair was in a haphazard ponytail and I probably had morning breath.

"Yeah, I think I'm going to go change now," I laughed. I said my goodbyes to Lissa and walked out of the gym, Dimitri following behind me.

I turned around. "Where are _you_ going, Comrade?" I smirked.

Dimitri's cocked his head to the side. "I was going to follow you back to your dorm. . . ."

I crossed my arms. "Uh-huh. I'm sure that's all innocent and stuff, but I have to get dressed. And that would require me to get _un_dressed. So you stay here, and I'll be back in ten minutes tops. 'Kay?"

Dimitri smiled at me. "Hurry."

I took off for my dorm. Once there, I rifled through my closet, picking out my favorite thermal top, skinny jeans, and the awesome ankle boots Lissa had given me on my birthday a couple years ago when we had been on the run. I didn't bother applying any makeup, except for lip gloss. Looking in my mirror at my hair, I decided all I really had time for was to comb and brush it and pull it back into another ponytail, which had sadly become my default hairstyle since I first began practice with Dimitri earlier this year.

I set out of the dorm, kicking my pace up to a brisk speed-walk. The weather at this time of day was nice. It was evening for the human world, meaning mid-morning for us vampires and half-vampires. The night air was dewy from the rain shower last night, and I basked in the perfume of the flower gardens permeating the atmosphere. I arrived at the gym in no time, and I also happily noticed that I stayed within the time limit I had given Dimitri.

I opened the door and sauntered inside, again captivated by the renovation of the gym.

"Hey there, little dhampir. Want a drink?"

I turned around, knowing the voice speaking to me. "Hi Adrian," I greeted him. "Don't you know I'm too young to drink?"

He grinned, leaning against the wall I was standing near, ever-present drink in hand. I had to admit he was looking really attractive in the button-down blue shirt and skinny jeans he was wearing. "Never stopped you before."

I laughed. "Whatever. I can't believe you used compulsion on old Bird Face! What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking that it was time I got back into my natural environment. Don't act like you don't love me for it." He winked, giving me a lopsided grin.

I couldn't help returning the grin, and I leaned over and smacked his arm. "Slummer. Where's Lissa and Dimitri?"

"Lissa's working with the balloons in the corner near the DJ booth, and your man's talking to Alberta by the snack table."

I had been about to make a comment about Dimitri not being my "man", but decided to ignore it since it was clear Adrian wouldn't be fooled.

Waving bye to my drunkard friend, I spotted Lissa. "Hey," I greeted her, coming up to grab one of the multitude of un-blown balloons resting on the table she was sitting at. "Where's Fire Crotch?"

Lissa shot me a look, smoothing out the skirt of the sleeveless chiffon top she was wearing. It matched the jade green color of her eyes. "You mean _Christian_?"

"Yeah, him."

"He's making up a test he failed."

I laughed. "I can't really say that's a shock."

Lissa apparently didn't find me very funny. She looked me directly in the eyes. "Rose," she murmured in a level, silky voice. "You're going to stand there, frozen, not moving, and you won't object to what I'm about to do. Okay?" She smiled at me, using all of the Dragomir-Princess charm she could muster - which was a lot.

I was momentarily confused. "Liss, what are you talking about?" If this wasn't weird, then I didn't know what it was.

She continued smiling at me, her grin getting sizeably bigger. I could see her wo tiny fangs poking out.

I was about to open my mouth to say something again, but then, I shut it. I didn't really even think much about it. I just . . . decided not to talk. And then everything I was seeing glazed over, and I knew I had this dopy grin on my face. I couldn't help it. Looking at Lissa again, I realized how much I wanted to please her. . . . I just loved her smile. I would do anything to make her happy. "Yes," I smiled. "I won't object."

Lissa grinned, standing up, and took the fully blown balloon she was holding and rubbed it against my perfectly made ponytail. Then she stuck the balloon to the wall. "Hey, it sticks!" she exclaimed.

As soon as the words came out of her mouth, I snapped out of whatever daze I had previously been in. My happy-go-lucky mood shifted. "Lissa!" I shrieked. "You used compulsion on me!" I was astounded.

She looked back at me. "I did? Oh, huh, I guess I did. My bad." She giggled.

My mouth dropped. I couldn't believe it. She'd been spending way too much time with Christian. I was just about to pounce on her and give her a noogie (yes, it's childish, but she messed my hair up so why not mess up hers?) when I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"What's going on?" Dimitri asked. He saw me then, and I could tell he had to fight hard to keep from laughing.

I scowled at him and Lissa. Lissa began laughing too. "I hate you all," I muttered. At least Adrian wasn't over here.

"No, you don't," Lissa sputtered. "'Cause if you did you would've jumped across the table at me by now." She lowered her voice, stepping closer. "You also wouldn't have done the dirty with Dimitri."

I gaped. "Oh, no - you'll pay for that Liss!" I grabbed her, pulling her into a headlock as I rubbed my fist into her hair, tangling up the strands.

"Rose!" Dimitri chastised.

I released Lissa just as fast as I had grabbed her. She stood up straight, staring daggers at me. "I hate you," she grumbled.

I laughed at her disgruntled expression and disheveled hair. "No, you don't," I teased, "'Cause if you did you wouldn't have been so happy to see me earlier." I stuck my tongue out.

She ignored me, hands flying up to her head to try and fix her hair. I did the same, taking my hair out of my ponytail and shaking it out. Just as I was reaching to put it back into another one, Dimitri caught my hand.

"Leave it down," he murmured in my ear, and I recalled that long-ago practice where he had advised me not to cut my hair.

I smiled at him, instead wrapping the hair tie around my wrist before walking over to help Lissa out.

Once we had gotten the hair situation straightened out, I helped Lissa, Eddie, and a few others that were there decide on the playlist for the party. With the way things were turning out, everything would be just right tonight. Who knew; I might even get to have my first dance with Dimitri. See? I can be optimistic.

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**So did you likey? **Please review and let me know how you feel about everything!**  
_xoxo,  
_**RyRy


	5. Embarrassing Pet Names

**How goes it? **Chapter 5 is now up! See, I'm getting better - I updated yesterday, and now today! *Snaps for Ryan* I'll be working on the next chapter after I get this one dealt with, so it'll either be up LATE tonight, early in the morning (I'm talking about wee hours here), or tomorrow after school... Not really sure yet. Anyways, please review on this! Thanks all **:)  
Characters belong to Richelle Mead.**

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_Bang, bang, bang_

Now didn't this feel familiar? "Who is it?" I shouted over the sound of my radio.

"Your secret lover!" I heard a muffled voice giggle.

Laughing, I bounced over to the door, pulling Lissa inside and shutting it. I was grateful for the loudness of the music. "Dimitri, your voice is sounding particularly girlish today."

Lissa giggled again. "That's because without your sweet loving I am nothing but an unfortunate lady-man."

"Oh, come here then, charming lady-man Dimitri. Let me shower you with kisses and turn you back into my knight in shining armor." I grabbed Lissa then, who was squealing in laughter, and planted several mushy kisses on her hand and cheek. Anyone else would say this was gay, but we've been best friends for so long that we were practically sisters, so it didn't matter. We both knew we liked guys.

I was still kissing Lissa when my door opened. I hadn't had it locked, and I hadn't even heard it open until Dimitri cleared his throat.

"Rose, is there something you want to tell me?"

I jumped apart from Lissa, who was bending over in laughter. I grinned at Dimitri, hiding my embarrassment. "Nope. Lissa and I were just playing around."

"Yeah," Lissa grinned, a light flush starting to spread over her cheeks and neck. "Don't worry - she's not switching teams or anything."

I snatched a pillow from my bed and threw it at her. She ducked though, at the last minute, causing it to smack Dimitri in the face.

I froze, knowing something horrible was about to come. Lissa obviously knew it too by the way she was slowly backing away from us.

Dimitri stood there, not saying anything, not moving. He just stared at me.

The room was quiet for a moment, save for my radio booming in the background, and the apprehension was almost palpable in the air. I had been told to never piss off a Russian before. I think I was about to find out why.

Next thing I knew, I was soaring midair. And then, just as quickly as it happened, I was thrown upon something hard, falling back-first and then head. The air whooshed from my lungs, leaving me breathless.

I couldn't see or hear anything for countless seconds. Who knows - it might've even been a few minutes. But when my sight began to return, I was able to make out a big black shape looming directly over me. My stomach flopped for a painful moment, but a couple seconds later the shape turned out to be Dimitri.

He was leaning over me, pinning me to what I recognized as my bed, grinning mischievously.

"I'm going to kill you for that," I growled, low and dark.

Dimitri chuckled, leaning his face closer to mine, leaving little space between us. "And just what do you plan on doing, Rose?" he taunted.

It was on. I grasped his forearms, knowing I only had just seconds to do what I needed to in order to get free. From the corner of my eye I could see Lissa watching us from a corner of the room, transfixed by the intensity we had. I knew she had never seen us act all intimate before since she never knew about us until recently, so it was a bit of a shock to her brain to see us so close together.

I ran a hand up to his neck, playing sensuous, pulling his face closer to mine. I wrapped a leg around his waist, and I saw his eyes glaze over with lust. Bingo.

I placed my other hand above his hip, holding him tightly, bracing myself against his weight. And then, in one swift motion, I pushed myself up to him, using the hand holding his hip to flip him to my right while using the one on his neck to flip the rest of him over. His back thumped against the bed, making me and him bounce from the impact of his weight. I ended up on top, straddling his waist. I flashed him a triumphant grin. He had been so mesmerized by his desire for me that he hadn't read the seemingly obvious signs of what I had been about to do.

He said something under his breath in Russian, smiling into my eyes. "You truly are amazing."

I laughed, brushing imaginary dust off my shoulders. "So I've been told. Now come on, you have to leave. The party's in a couple hours and Lissa and I need to get ready."

I saw his eyes dart over to Lissa, suddenly remembering she was here. "Right. . . ." he trailed off.

I got off of him, leaping from the bed and onto the floor, and he sat up. He tossed Lissa a smile as he left.

As soon as he was gone, I grinned at her. "Get used to this, Lissa," I told her. "This is what it's going to be like between us from now on. And ever since we let down all the walls, what's between us will become more apparent than ever. We're like you and Ozera now." I grinned again.

Lissa laughed and nodded. "Yeah, that's nice to know," she said, but what was shocking was that she was being sarcastic.

I stared at Lissa. "Woah," I said. "You were just as cynical as Christian when you said that."

She grinned. "Yep, I'm learning a lot from him. I just wonder if I should be happy about that or not."

I threw an arm around her shoulder. "Well when it comes to sarcasm, you should be. It's about time you caught up with me and Fire Crotch. Now go get you stuff, you're supposed to be doing my hair!"

"Only if you do my makeup," she countered.

We agreed, and I changed the song on my radio to ''Sexy Back'' while I waited for her to come back.

When she did, we got down to business.

* * *

"You look lovely, darling!"

Lissa was using her French stylist accent, which always meant she was pleased with the way her work turned out. In this case, her "work" was my hair.

I turned around in the chair to look in the mirror. I gasped.

"Liss, it's great!"

She leaned down next to me in the mirror. "I know it is. _I_ did it after all."

We laughed. I reached up to touch it. Somehow, despite the drowning of hairspray my hair went through, it felt soft and silky to the touch and not at all hardened.

Lissa had curled my hair (which is a task in itself - my hair doesn't hold curls very well) to where it fell in soft tendrils. Then she pinned a few fistfuls to the sides of my head, where my hair was pulled away from my face and looked somewhat braided. It was _so_ pretty. I could never do anything like that with my hair.

"Okay," I said, pulling my eyes away from my reflection. "Your turn."

Lissa's hair had already been styled. I was going to do her makeup.

While I looked for my makeup bag in my dresser drawers, Lissa fixed a stray strand of hair that had fallen out of place. Most of her hair had been pinned up high on her head in a bun, and what wasn't in a bun hung freely, curls framing her heart-shaped face. A thin strand of pearls adorned the bun, making her look every bit the princess she was. I told her a tiara would've gone nicely.

"Found it," I mumbled. I carried it over to the chair Lissa was sitting in and placed it on the bedside table beside it. I rifled through it, pulling out a stick of eyeliner, my waterproof mascara, berry-colored eye shadow, and red lip-gloss.

"Close your eyes," I instructed her. She obeyed, and I wiped the eyeliner across her eyes, framing them in black and making the green pop. Then I applied the eye shadow, rubbing the pinkish tint in. And after using the mascara and lip-gloss, Lissa was all done.

She gazed at her reflection. "Oh, Rose," she breathed. "I look amazing."

I grinned, my chest swelling up in self-pride. "Of course you do - your makeup was done by Rose Hathaway. Tell you friends."

She laughed. "The boys will be here any minute. Are you ready?"

I nodded. She got up and grabbed our shoes, handing me mine and strapping hers on. We were both wearing high heels, but hers was a metallic gold with a huge rose fastened to the toes, and mine was a pair of black exotic platform-pumps.

_Bang, bang, bang_

"You know, Lissa, I should really invest in a doorbell. The banging always makes me jumpy," I said, laughing as I went to get the door.

"Hey Rose," Christian greeted me. "Where's my wuggle-puss?"

My mouth dropped, and my laughing began all over again, harder this time. "Lissa!" I gasped out. "He just called you _'wuggle-puss'_!"

Christian scowled at me. I was practically sprawled against the wall, dying. This was just so effing _funny!_ They had pet names for each other now!

"Oh, my snookie-bear's here!" Lissa came over to the door, love written all over her face for Christian.

"Stop!" I rasped out, still snickering uncontrollably. "You're killing me with the pet names!"

Lissa also threw me a few weird looks. Christian had moved past that though and was now openly laughing at me.

"Is something wrong with her?" I heard a new voice ask.

"When has something _not_ been wrong with Rose?" Christian replied.

I looked towards the door. Dimitri was standing there, looking like he wanted to help but wasn't sure how since I wasn't actually in harm.

"Oh . . ." I panted. "Oh god, that was so funny. You two really have to get new names for each other."

They all ignored me. "You look beautiful, Liss," Christian said to her, kissing her on the nose and running a hand over the fabric of her grey dress. It looked awesome on her. We both had picked out each other's dresses, like we had been doing for years.

"You don't look so bad yourself," she murmured. He actually didn't, with the button-down white shirt and blue-and-black striped tie he was wearing.

"Let's go lovebirds," I said. "We're already fashionably late. We don't need to be stylishly overdue."

We left my room, making our way down the hallways. Dimitri slowed his pace to match mine, and we fell behind Lissa and Christian.

He placed a hand on the back of my black dress. "Roza, you look amazing," he murmured, the feel of his breath on my neck making me shiver.

He nuzzled my neck, taking advantage of the couple minutes we had until we reached the building's main floor, which would no doubt be flooded with other dhampirs. I felt his lips graze past my ear, and I felt shockingly cold all of a sudden.

"Dimitri," I laughed, "wait until after the party."

He chuckled and pulled away from me slightly, slipping into the "good mentor" role as we entered the main lobby.

Damn tease.

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**Dresses and stuff will appear on my profile! (: **So please press the green button and review! It's complimenting you!**  
xoxo,  
**Ryan


	6. Dirty Dancing

**Note: **this chapter was sooo fun to write! I swear I'm jealous... I wish I could go to a school like this, but boarding school doesn't sound nearly as fun as a vampire academy. Thanks for the reviews, and your support is immensely welcome and appreciated! Tell me what you like and don't like so I know how to make it better! Thank you** (:**

* * *

"Rose, Lissa, over here!"

Lissa and I turned toward the voice. "Eddie!"

He jogged up to me. "Hey Rose," he greeted me, pulling me into a hug. "It's been a while since I last saw you."

I smiled. "Yeah, exactly one day and thirteen hours. How 'bout that."

He returned my grin, and looked to Lissa like he was going to say hi, but then noticed that she was walking away with Christian.

Dimitri placed a hand on my back. "I'll be over in the back scanning out the room with Alberta. Have fun," he smiled.

I nodded. Eddie was talking to someone I faintly recognized from one of our classes. "'Kay, see you."

He retreated, and Eddie turned back to me, the person he was talking to leaving. "Sorry about that."

I grabbed his arm and began pulling him towards the bar. "Don't worry about it." I grinned. "Wanna go get a drink?"

Eddie got serious for a moment, and I remembered how somber he had been acting ever since Mason's death. For a moment I thought he would turn it down. "Sure, but I'm not going over one."

I smiled. "Thought so." We bickered over what exactly that was supposed to mean on the way there.

I grabbed one of the high purple chairs and climbed up into it. Eddie took the one next to me.

"Have I told you how hot you look tonight?" he said, grinning.

I punched his arm. "Aw, thanks. You too, sexy."

We laughed, and someone walked up to take our orders. I couldn't believe who it was.

"_Adrian?_"

Adrian grinned, setting down the glass he had been cleaning with a grey rag. "Hey, little dhampir. And slightly bigger dhampir," he added, nodding to Eddie. Eddie nodded back.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"Working," he said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. After I stared at him for several heavy moments, he elaborated. "They said if I came I couldn't get free drinks unless I was working the counter. So here I am. Now what do you kids want?"

I asked for a virgin French Kiss, and Eddie said he'd take a virgin Blue Lagoon. The night was just starting, so we weren't ready for alcohol yet. I must not have caught something though, because when Adrian handed me my drink he and Eddie began snickering.

I tried to ignore it best I could and took a sip of my French Kiss, staring at them over the top of the glass suspiciously.

Suddenly, the back of my throat began burning and I choked. I spit the bubbly drink up, fizzy fluid flying everywhere. I could hear Adrian and Eddie laughing, but for a second, I couldn't breathe.

Eddie immediately jumped up, any trace of humor vanishing from his face as he grabbed me from my seat and squeezed my abdomen hard, performing the Heimlich maneuver.

I gained my breath after a moment and took several gut-wrenching coughs. "What the hell . . . was _that?_" I asked shakily when I was able to talk. I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand.

Eddie and Adrian exchanged a glance, and then burst out laughing again. My face felt red and hot in fury.

I stalked behind the counter in a death march and gripped an unsuspecting Adrian by his shirt collar. He gasped and choked on his laugh. I pulled his head down to my level.

"I said, _what the hell was in my drink?_"

His eyes were big and round. He stuttered, "Uh-um, vodka, raspberry liquor, and Grand Marnier orange liquor. . . ."

I shook him a little, and his head bobbed around. "I asked for a virgin French Kiss, dumbass, not a _spiked_ virgin French Kiss."

I could see Eddie trying to figure out how to prevent a fight from breaking out, but I was guessing that he really didn't want to risk a broken limb tonight, despite the few inches of height and brawn he had on me.

Adrian turned desperate. "I'm sorry! We just thought it would be funny, and plus you love drinking! I mean, you certainly don't have a problem with it. But please don't hurt me, right now it wouldn't be a fair fight, little dhampir."

I sniffed the air around us. He was drunk, no surprise there. Yeah, he was sober more often now that he was helping Lissa with spirit, but at a party? He wasn't going to let spirit's effects affect him here. Taking pity on the fact that I just knocked his ego down a few notches, I released him. "I'll let you go this time Ivashkov, but next time your ass is mine." With a huff, I walked back around the counter, taking my seat and a sip of my alcoholic drink.

Adrian tried to calm his nerves, but Eddie on the other hand went loose. He was cracking up, and I couldn't help a smile.

"Okay, I'll admit that was kind of funny. Kudos for pulling one over on me."

Eddie laughed some more. "_Kind of?_ Rose, you should've seen the look on your face! Priceless."

I giggled too, the drink working its bubbly charm on me. "Adrian, how did you even get alcohol in here? I figured all of the drinks would be non-alcoholic, if any."

Adrian readjusted his shirt collar. "They are all non-alcoholic. But I sneaked a few bottles back here to keep things fun." He grinned wickedly.

I gaped at him. "Adrian, you can't just randomly spike kids' drinks! You could get in a world of trouble for that! And Eddie and I don't count, we're drunkards anyways so we could care less."

"Relax," he said. "I was only going to spike your's and Eddie's drink. And Lissa's and Christian's, depending on how their behavior turned out."

I shook my head exasperatedly. "Come on Eddie, let's go dance," I said, grabbing him by the wrist. "Bye Adrian!"

A fast song was playing, and Eddie and I rushed over to the dance floor. We immediately started doing the dance to "Walk It Out".

I turned my back to Eddie as he grabbed my waist. I sang along to the song, the lyrics melting into me and giving me an amazing sense of happiness and contentment. Feeling flirty, I dropped it low and slowly came back up, grinding ever-so-slightly against Eddie as I did so. Winding my hips and raising my arms above my head, I turned to face him, grinning. His mouth was hanging open and I could see he was about to start laughing. He did.

"Oh, I see how it is!" Then he pulled me in close to him so that we were chest-to-chest. I laughed at the sudden contact.

He chuckled and spun me out. I came back in and then dipped, Eddie holding my back to support me.

We both caught on fast. When we were in middle school we all had to take a dancing unit in gym, and ironically Eddie had been my partner. He was an utterly excellent dancer, and though I wasn't nearly as good I had been able to keep up.

We fell into our version of a fox trot, a dancing mixture of twirls and shimmies and dips. I was laughing more than I had in a while, and Eddie couldn't stop grinning.

When the song ended, people clapped, and I realized we had been ballroom dancing in the middle of a fast song,_ and _tons of people had been watching.

Eddie smiled down at me and took my hand in his. We bowed dramatically, and more people cheered.

In front of us, a small, pale form broke through the crowd of students. Lissa emerged, Christian in tow.

"Oh my gosh, you guys were amazing! And you totally looked like that wasn't at all planned!"

Eddie chuckled. "It wasn't. You should've seen us before. . . ." He trailed off, looking at me and grinning, and I smacked his arm, making it clear he didn't need to go into finer detail.

The conversation stopped as a slow song played around us and people began pairing off. Lissa made her goodbyes, walking away with Christian.

I looked at Eddie, and he wrapped his arms around me, playing the role of my dance partner again. We swayed quietly for a few moments to the music, and it didn't feel awkward at all. It was nice.

We did make minimal chitchat, though, but a couple minutes before the song ended a very shocking thing occurred.

"Can I cut in?"

It was Dimitri.

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**Ooh, cliff-hanger. **Sorry, I swear it wouldn't have been one if my mom wasn't screaming for me to get off the computer haha. Thank my grandma, who actually talked her into letting me post this tonight!  
**xoxo,**  
RyRy


	7. Can I Cut In?

**OMG 60+ reviews!** I'm seriously loving you guys! *big wet mushy kisses to all* Can we work to 70? **:)** Love you, read and review!

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I couldn't believe it.

Dimitri was risking it all - everyone finding out about the two of us and our relationship - to dance with me. We had already talked about what would happen if people found out, and we had agreed to tell about us at the graduation ceremony, where we couldn't be touched because I wouldn't be a student and Dimitri wouldn't be my mentor. But as for right now, I was a student, and Dimitri was my mentor. So this really wasn't allowed.

Eddie was a little shocked as well, but he was handling it better. "Sure thing, man, she's all yours. Have fun, Rose." He winked, but I knew he was just kidding, because Eddie had no idea what really went on with Dimitri and I. The thought made me feel a little guilty.

Dimitri smiled at me, placing both hands on my waist. Eddie was already dancing with some other girl that I couldn't see very well, and Lissa was dancing with Christian, not far from us, and was shooting me a frantic, worried look. She didn't want us to get in trouble.

"May I have this dance, Roza?" Dimitri asked.

I nodded, directing my attention back to him and his warm brown eyes. "Yes, of course." I tried to reach my arms up to wrap them around his neck, but he was too tall. He leaned his head down a little, and I smiled in thanks. We began dancing, Dimitri leading me in graceful steps to the rhythm of the music. I matched his pace, starting to relax at the feel of being in his arms. It really was soothing.

"Dimitri, what were you thinking asking me to dance?" I asked in a low voice after we had gotten comfortable. "We could get in so much trouble for this. _You_ could get in so much trouble for this."

"Guardians are allowed to dance with students. We just don't really do it because we never get asked. Our job is to mainly watch the perimeters of the room and keep everyone safe, and no one has ever thought we were here for any other reason, which is true, I suppose. But we _are_ permitted to some fun. And as for what I was thinking. . . ." He trailed off, looking back down at me. I was aware of the fact that we were dangerously close to each other for a student and mentor to be dancing. "Well, don't think I didn't notice Adrian trying to get away from the bar to ask you to dance."

I laughed. Knowing him, he was ready to spike some other kids' drinks just to keep them away from the bar and on the dance floor for a while. "I wanted to dance with you too. But I was pretty much one of those kids." I smiled at him.

He smiled back, and I stepped a little closer. I could've rested my head on his chest if I wanted to. Surprisingly, though, he didn't protest. I looked up at him. He was staring at me, a thoughtful expression on his face.

"I'm shocked you haven't asked why no one's paying us too much attention." I grinned. I had actually been about to ask. "Look at Alberta."

He twisted us in a way to direct me to her. When my eyes found her, I almost burst out laughing.

Alberta was the girl Eddie was dancing with! They were swaying from side to side a little awkwardly, and Alberta was actually smiling in a non-sarcastic way. Eddie was talking to her about something, and she actually seemed interested in what he was saying.

I turned back to Dimitri. "Oh my God! She's dancing with _Eddie?_ How the hell did this happen?" I laughed again.

Dimitri grinned. "I told her I was going to ask you to dance, and for some reason she said she wanted to ask a student too. This is going to sound crazy, but I think she knows about our relationship so she asked Eddie to dance so it wouldn't draw everyone's attention to us. More kids would be interested in Alberta dancing than they would in me, considering it's not too much of a surprise you're dancing with your mentor."

I laughed some more. The thought of Alberta dancing was just entirely too funny. "I always suspected she knew, but I mostly ignored it 'cause I thought it was silly." I paused. "I'm glad you asked me, Dimitri. This is our first dance, you know."

He smiled, looking into my eyes. "I know. You look so beautiful tonight."

I smiled back, my mood shooting from happy to ecstatic in the blink of an eye. "Thanks, Comrade. You don't look too shabby either."

Dimitri chuckled at me. "Come with me," he said, grasping my hand and tugging me along. "I have a surprise."

I followed, not saying anything, too confused to ask where we where going. This was all kind of abrupt.

He finally stopped, leading us to a dimly lit part of the gym, sectioned off with a long curtain hanging from the ceiling. It concealed the makeshift storage room they created for the exercise equipment.

"Cool. Privacy." I grinned mischievously, leaning towards him on my tiptoes. Dimitri's lips met mine with a gentle lovingness, and he wrapped his arms around my waist and drew me close. I felt him playing with the fabric of my dress covering my back.

We stayed there kissing and holding each other for a while; I'd say maybe more than a whole song passed before someone came and found us.

"Rose? Dimitri? Are you back here?"

We jumped apart, no doubt looking like two little kids caught doing something they shouldn't have been. Which was exactly what we were doing.

"Lissa? We're over here."

Faintly, I saw the outline of my best friend making her way over to us. "Finally! I was wondering where you two went. I also figured you'd be back here, and I'm not too surprised to see I was right." She smirked. "I came to tell you the dance is going to be over in a while. Are you coming to the after-party?"

I laughed. "Lissa, this place _is_ a party! Adrian even sneaked in real alcohol. You mean to tell me you guys are actually going to have another one?"

She giggled. "Yeah, I found out about the alcohol a while ago. But there's going to be another party because this one apparently has too much supervision for everyone's liking." She narrowed her eyes at Dimitri playfully, who had stayed silent thus far. "So are you coming? Dimitri can come, too, but only if he gets drunk. No other guardians allowed."

Dimitri and I exchanged a quick look. "Yeah," I said. "We'll be there. And don't worry - he'll be plenty wasted."

Lissa smiled and made her goodbyes, walking away, Dimitri and I following. Yeah, we'd be there . . . after we had an after-party of our own.

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**Ooh, looks like Rose is out for a little love-making celebration... **You guys are terrific at reviewing! I can't thank you enough!**  
xoxo,  
**Ryan


	8. Good and Wasted

**Chapter eight has _arrived__!_ **Things get steamy in this chapter, so don't say I didn't warn you! I guess half can be rated some-what M... But then again, that makes it more fun, am I right? You guys are so amazing at reviewing! Love you guys! Thanks for reading and supporting!

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"Okay, we have exactly fifteen minutes before we have to be over at Lissa's for the after-party, and I need at least three to change. You think we have time?"

Dimitri muttered something unintelligible in response, his voice muffled by the skin of my neck.

"Dimitri? I didn't catch that."

He lifted his lips from my neck. "I said, I think we have time, Roza." He gave me a quick grin before ducking his head back down, trailing kisses along the length of my neck.

I smiled in bliss. "Well, great, then."

We were lying on my bed. The dance had ended no less than two minutes ago, and I had a feeling that Dimitri and I were the first ones out. We had quickly came up to my room, locking the door behind us as Dimitri kissed me.

We hadn't exactly planned on having sex, but we had time for it, and I really wanted Dimitri. I knew he still felt a little apprehensive about sex since he was so much older than me and I had just recently turned eighteen, but I was hoping that would eventually fade.

I lifted his shirt up as he gently laid me on the bed, moaning in contentedness. He leaned up some, allowing me to remove the garment more easily. I pulled it over his head and tossed it aside, admiring his well-toned chest.

"Roza, hold on," he said. I paused. "Are you sure you want to do this? We don't have to."

"I do kind of want to, but not if you don't. . . ." Ah, crap. Cue the awkward moment. We had already done it before Dimitri, what's wrong with doing it again?

"It's not that I don't want to. I do. I just don't want to make you feel like I'm taking advantage of you. It hasn't been that long since the first time we made love."

I got up on my elbows. "I don't feel like you're taking advantage of me. I never have. I love you, and it's not like I'm protesting to sleeping with you. We're not doing anything wrong; _you're_ not doing anything wrong. Okay?"

Dimitri smiled at the impatient tone in my voice. He resumed kissing me, and I relished in the fact that Dimitri was mine. My own personal Russian god.

Dimitri's hands found their way to my thighs and he inched his hands up, slowly pushing my dress up as well. He got it up to my chest, and I arched my back to get it off all the way.

His eyes left my face, glazing over with visible desire as they trailed down my body.

I flipped us over, moving Dimitri under me and straddling his waist as I steadied my position on top. I flipped my hair back over my shoulder, my hands working to undo the button of his dark jeans. Dimitri watched as I removed them, pulling them down to his ankles. He kicked them off.

We kissed some more, and our tongues met with eager energy, locked in a fierce dance, much like the one with Eddie and I. Dimitri lay on his back, holding my waist as he pulled me down on top of him. His hands trailed down my back, leaving trails of fire in their wake.

Suddenly, we were flipped again and I ended up on bottom, exactly where we had first started. We gazed at each other, and I found myself drowning in the love I could see in his deep brown eyes.

When it was all finished, we lay together for a while, kissing and whispering occasionally. I was willing to bet it all took place in the course of seven minutes, leaving more than enough time for me to get ready for the after-party.

"Get up," I told Dimitri, smacking his chest and reluctantly rolling out of the bed. He grinned at me, and I recalled the comment Lissa made earlier about Dimitri requiring drunkenness to be welcome at the party.

Dimitri crossed his arms behind his head, making himself comfortable as he watched me fumble around for clothes.

I grabbed a black lace-up top, a pair of shorts, and the first pair of shoes I saw that matched my outfit. As I was tugging my shorts up, I became wholly aware of Dimitri's stare, though he was saying nothing.

"Dimitri, aren't you going to get dressed? We're leaving in five minutes."

I watched him sit up in the bed from the corner of my eye as I walked over to my makeup counter. I wiped my face clean of the hour-old makeup and started rummaging through my bag for more.

"Rose," Dimitri began. "I'm not sure it's a good idea I go. Don't you think people will become suspicious if I walk in?"

He brought up a good point. "You're right . . . but are you saying you're willing to let me walk into an after-party with tons of drunken hormonal Moroi boys by myself?"

Dimitri grunted. "No. In fact, I dread that. But how will I go without people wondering why I'm there, especially with you?"

I sighed inwardly. This was all so confusing. "I don't really think anyone would notice. Like I said, most everyone will be either drunk or high. It always happens. Plus, I doubt anyone'll remember you were there, and if they do we can write it off as low-priority, trustworthy-guardian supervision." I shrugged, turning around in the chair to face him. He was looking at me, a blank look on his face that I recognized as his "thinking" expression.

Finally, he let out a breath. "Alright, Rose. But just so we understand each other, I'm not drinking." He got out of the bed, picking up stray clothes lying on the floor and pulling them on.

I turned back to the mirror and fixed my hair with the time we had left, and when Dimitri was ready we left.

"Rose!" Lissa greeted us as we walked through the door she pulled open, still wearing the dress she wore to the dance but with ballet flats instead of heels. The after-party was being hosted in Camille Conta's dorm.

"I see you brought Dimitri too," she giggled.

"Yep," I smiled. And then my nose detected a strong, bitter smell. I sniffed near Lissa. "Liss!" I gasped. "You haven't been here for more than ten minutes, and you're already _drunk_?"

"Uh," she drawled. "I dunno. Lemme see." She turned her back to me, and Dimitri and I walked further into the room, the door closing behind us. I leaned over Lissa's shoulder to see what she was doing. When she noticed me looking, she stuck her hands behind her back and whirled on me. "Rose! No cheating!"

I backed up a few steps, holding my hands up in front of me in a peace gesture. "Okay, okay, sorry." She gave me a glare, and then turned back around. Tilting my head to the side a bit enabled me to see she was actually counting on her fingers. And very slowly, might I add. From the looks of it, she kept getting confused and messing up, and she would start again. Frustrated after waiting for so long, I said, "Liss, forget about it, come on." I hadn't seen her this drunk since before the car accident that killer her family (and me). It was actually a little welcoming, and reminded me of how much fun we used to have before everything turned so sad and serious.

She shrugged and led me to an area of the room where a big blue velvet couch faced a large plasma-screen TV.

"You promised Dimitri would get drunk if he came," Lissa pouted. "He looks sober to me." Her words slurred a little, indicating she had had too much to drink, so her words came out, "He looks shober thoo me."

I laughed, looking at Dimitri. His nose was wrinkled at the drunken kids loitering about, as if he was both disapproving their behavior and wanting to get them back to their dorms and break up the party like a normal guardian. "He is. But that'll change in a bit." I nudged him, and we got up from the couch, walking over to a long table pushed against a wall with beers and bottles of liquor on it.

"Hey Dimitri, you up for some Red Bull and vodka?"

Dimitri's eyes narrowed a bit. "You two were serious about us getting drunk, weren't you?"

I frowned. "Yeah. . . . You thought we were kidding?"

Dimitri shook his head at himself. "I don't know what I was thinking . . . and I sure didn't know what I was getting myself into either."

I laughed. "Well, now you do. Here," I shoved the drink into his hand. "Drink." I got busy with making one for myself.

"Rose, I thought mixing Red Bull with vodka often causes a rapid heart beat."

"It does," I said, topping off my drink with a splash of the vodka. "But it's not like we have it a lot, especially you, Comrade." I grinned. "Let loose tonight. I'm sure it's been quite some time since you have. The wards are up and there's tons of guardians crawling around, so we're safe. It's a party, after all."

He smiled a little. "I suppose it is." And then, with little hesitation, he took a sip of his drink.

It didn't take long for me to get good and intoxicated. And like everyone here knew perfectly well, a drunk Rose was a crazy Rose.

"Catch me, Dimitri!" I yelled, letting myself fall backwards off the end table. At the last moment, I felt two arms wrap around me, grabbing hold of me before I could hit the floor.

"That was fun," I giggled. I looked up, searching for the face of my lover. But who I found instead wasn't at all Dimitri. "Adrian?"

He smiled. "Hello, little dhampir. Fancy seeing you here. Do you jump off end tables often?"

I stood up, stumbling a bit before righting myself, and smoothed out the hem of my top. "Hey, Adrian. Want a drink? Or should we dance instead?" I giggled some more.

His smile widened. "Wow, you really are drunk. Usually you'd be either making sarcastic remarks or ignoring me. Besides, I _always_ have a drink with me, remember?"

I blinked slowly. "Um, no. Let's dance!" I began shimmying my hips to the loud hip-hop music playing. When Adrian just watched silently, I stopped. "You're ruining my good mood, Spirit Boy. I _said,_ let's dance!"

Laughing, Adrian finally joined in, dancing behind me while I did a variation of spins and twists.

"Rose, aren't you going to ask where your love-sick guardian is?" Adrian asked after a while.

I frowned momentarily, and then smiled, the effects of the liquor making me giddy. "Nope. So where is he?"

Adrian chuckled at me. "He's over in the corner, chatting up some other dhampirs about something-or-other. And your BFF is searching for something else to drink."

I barely heard anything Adrian was saying. Who really cared, when the world was so happy and ditzy and fun?

Eddie ran up to us then. He wasn't really drunk, just a little buzzed. He didn't drink nearly as much as he used to since Mason's death; he didn't like the feel of being weak and impaired.

"Hey, we're playing truth or dare. Are you guys going to join?"

"Hell yeah!" I screeched. I _loved_ that game! I was beast at it. No one who knew me ever wanted to pick dare.

Adrian laughed. "This I can't miss. Count me in."

Eddie ran off to recruit more players, and Adrian and I walked to the center of the room where the game was beginning. After a few more people joined in, things got started. And truth or dare always became unpredictable when there were a mix of dhampirs and Moroi.

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**Ooh, truth or dare... **Trust me guys, things become more action-packed soon. I won't give too much away, but that's when more people find out, and I'm even thinking of making a sequel. I love the support I'm receiving from you all!  
**xoxo,**  
Ryan


	9. Truth or Dare

**Hey everyone! **Chapter 9 is up and ready! Heehee. This one was so fun to write. I mean, seriously, they're all drunk and mindless haha. BTW, review, and I'll love you forever...

Enjoy friends! **Warning: L-A-N-G-U-A-G-E!** Laaaanguage! Whoo!

**All characters belong to that lovely woman, Richelle Mead. I just own Carly's grandma :)**

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"Everyone shuddup!"

People continued talking, ignoring the drunken, slurring, staggering Camille Conta.

Most everyone at the party was sitting in a misshapen semi-circle in the middle of the room. Camille had stood up, trying to get everyone's attention directed to the game so we could play, but we were drunk so we mostly ignored her.

She grabbed her can of beer off the table next to her, and a plastic fork from a stray paper plate. Scowling, she tapped the fork against the can.

No one heard anything, and no one even bothered to tell her that only worked with glasses and _silver_ forks. She eventually figured it out on her own though, setting the fork and can down. She settled for something else with a bigger effect.

I watched, giggling, as she opened her mouth, sucked in a breath, and screamed.

I stopped giggling, instead clamping my hands over my ears. She was giving me a headache. I wanted her to stop.

A moment later, she did. But it was only because someone threw a pillow at her. They almost missed, but it smacked her on the side of the face.

She closed her mouth, looking around to make sure she had everyone's attention. When she was satisfied, she began speaking. "Okay, so now we're going to play Truth or Dare. Anyone _not_ playing can go sit over on the couch, but they can't interfere with the game. Got it?"

There were a mixture of shouts and murmurs of understanding.

"Good." She flopped down onto the floor, her dress billowing and enfolding around her waist like rose petals.

"Who wants to go first?" she asked.

Lissa raised her hand in the air. "Ooh, ooh, me! I wanna ask Dimitri!"

As strange as it may sound, Dimitri was in fact playing. He had went over the limit he had set in my room, instead having _two_ drinks. But that was all it took for him to get buzzed.

Dimitri grinned.

Lissa nodded solemnly. "Truth or dare?"

Dimitri chewed his lip. "Can I have both?"

Camille frowned at him. "You can't have both."

Dimitri sighed heavily. "_Fine. _I pick truth."

Lissa giggled and thought for a moment. "Dimitri . . . have you ever made out with a guy, and if so, show us what it looked like on Christian."

Dimitri smiled stupidly. "I kissed my best friend on the cheek once when I was five. . . . And I don't want to kiss Christian. He's icky."

Someone shoved Christian, who had previously been snoring loudly on the floor next to Lissa. He jumped up, awake and startled. "Wha . . .?"

Lissa scowled at him. "We're playing truth or dare, and you have to kiss Dimitri. Now get up."

Christian rubbed the sleep from his eyes. "Okay, mommy."

Dimitri leaned forward expectantly, his lips puckered. Christian's lips were so close to touching his in an innocent peck, but Eddie shoved them together at the last minute, causing Dimitri to accidentally open his mouth. I couldn't see very well what happened, but from the looks of it Christian had bit Dimitri's lip with his fang.

"Oops. Sorry man," Christian slurred, laying back down next to Lissa and promptly falling asleep.

Dimitri wiped the tiny bead of blood from his lip with his sleeve, and looked over to Camille, who nodded, indicating it was his turn.

"Truth or dare, Rose?" he asked, looking at me evilly. I almost laughed because the drunkeness brought out Dimitri's Russian accent even more. Everything he said just came out sexy.

I was known for never turning down a dare, and I wasn't about to back down from Dimitri's. "Dare," I said.

He grinned. "I'll need three empty glasses and a blindfold."

My brow furrowed in confusion. Why would he need all of these things?

Camille got up and walked over to her mini-fridge in the corner of the room. She pulled out three small, clear glasses and handed them to Dimitri. Eddie had grabbed a scarf from some girl's neck and was currently folding it into a blindfold.

"Dimitri, what's all this about?" I asked as Eddie wrapped the scarf around my eyes. It was making me uncomfortable because I relied mostly on my eyes for defense, not that I could do much while intoxicated.

"Your dare is to pick one of these three glasses to drink out of, but here's the catch: one contains toilet water, one water, and one spit. We'll mix them around, and the one you pick is the one you must drink."

I gulped. This dare sucked so far, but like I said, I never backed down. "Bring it."

Eddie directed my hand to the glasses and told me to pick one. I closed my fist around the one on the far left, hoping desperately that it was water.

I counted to three mentally, and then downed the glass. I was sure it was water by the way the liquid flowed easily from the glass into my mouth, unlike spit that would stick to the glass and slowly inch toward the lip.

I gagged all of a sudden, spitting up the water. Sputtering, I gasped, "This _isn't_ water! This is the toilet water!"

I heard several laughs and snickers erupt from around me. Still retching dryly, I whipped the scarf off, glaring around the circle until I met eyes with Dimitri. "That was by far the most _disgusting_ dare ever. I would've preferred to give Adrian a lap dance."

Dimitri was almost choking on laughter. Adrian looked disappointed that he didn't end up with a lap dance, but he couldn't help laughing at my misfortune.

Camille, giggling, stood up to take the glasses away. The girl whose scarf I had been wearing snatched it from my grip, glowering at me.

I coughed a bit more, and then grinned impishly at everyone. It was my turn. "Hey, Adrian," I purred. "Truth or dare?"

Adrian stopped laughing, his eyes expanding. "Little dhampir," he tried to plead, "Don't do this to me. You love me, remember?"

I snorted. "Even drunk, you can't pull that one on me. _Truth or dare?_" I asked again, more impatiently.

"Truth?" It came out as a question.

I already had a good one ready. "Describe your sexual fantasy - include with whom, what, when, and where."

Adrian stared. "Is it too late to pick dare?"

"Do you really want to hump a lamp stand for three minutes while we film it and pass the copy around the school?" I countered.

"No," he sighed, surrendering. "Fine. I want it to be doggie style, in a Chinese restaurant bathroom, sometime around the Fourth of July, and with you, of course." He muttered the last part under his breath.

I burst out laughing with everyone else, despite the fact that he had just said he wanted to get kinky with me. "What . . . the . . . _fuck_?" I sputtered. "Why in a Chinese restaurant?"

He glared. "It's just something I've always wanted to do. Don't judge me."

I snickered.

"Okay, it's my turn!" Adrian shouted, trying to make the room of hysterical drunks quiet down. "Eddie, truth or dare?"

"Dare!" Eddie roared.

"Go outside the dorm and kiss the first person you see, whether it's a girl or guy." Adrian leaned back on his hands, making himself comfortable.

Eddie didn't like this dare. "Are you kidding me? I have a reputation! I can't kiss a guy, people will think I'm gay!"

Adrian didn't budge. "Get out there fast enough and you may run into a girl."

Sighing and grumbling, Eddie got up and poked his head out of Camille's door. "There's an old woman out there!"

Adrian laughed and stood, walking to the door. "Pucker up, Eddie, 'cause _you_ have to kiss her! Grandma's gettin' some tonight!"

I stood up, wanting badly to see this. Damn, this would be hysterical!

Eddie groaned. Several people stood up from the circle, not wanting to miss out on Eddie making out with an elderly woman. Someone tossed him a can of body spray right before he walked out.

He sprayed it around his body, tossed it back to a random guy, and stepped out the door, looking like he was getting sent to war.

I stuck my head out the door, looking in the direction Eddie walked off in. Sure enough, there was an elderly grandma at the end of the hall, and I assumed she had just come back from visiting grandkids.

"Hello, my fine lady," Eddie drawled, turning on the charm despite how horrible his dare was. He was like me: if he was going to do something he wasn't exactly excited over, he would make it worth his time. "Is there somewhere I could help you get to this wonderful night?"

The lady ogled Eddie suspiciously. "No," she finally said. "But thank you."

She started to walk away, but Eddie grasped her arm. "Uh, are you sure ma'am?"

She glared down at his hand, and if she could I'd imagine she was shooting laser beams at it. "I said no. But you smell of alcohol, young man. Is there something you'd like to tell me?"

Eddie's eyes flickered back over to the door, panicked. This woman wasn't falling for it, and if Eddie didn't complete the dare it became a forfeit.

"Hey," Carly, Camille's best friend, suddenly said. "That's . . . _my_ grandma!"

Shocked, I stared back at her. And then the alcohol consumed me and I giggled with the rest of the partygoers.

My eyes shot back towards Eddie. Desperate, he grabbed her, pulling her to his lips. She struggled for a long time, shrieking and flailing her arms. But then, stunningly, she stopped. Her arms instead wrapped around Eddie's neck, binding him to her, and then it was Eddie trying to get away. I watched in stone-cold shock as her hand trailed down his back and down to his butt, cupping and squeezing. Eddie gave a muffled scream.

Carly was practically rolling on the floor laughing. There were tears in her eyes. "My grandma's . . . getting it on . . . with _Eddie!_"

I couldn't stop laughing. Dimitri and Adrian were cracking up, and Adrian's cheeks were streaked with tears.

Finally, Carly's grandma released Eddie, and Eddie sucked in as many breaths as he could hold. Flirtatiously, Grandma reached into her ancient-old faux-alligator purse, pulled out a piece of paper, and grabbed Eddie by the waistband of his pants. She stuck the paper inside, her hand drifting a little farther down than necessary, and winked at him. "Call me anytime you want a _real _woman, big boy."

Eddie stared at her, scared out of his mind, and took off running towards us as soon as her back was turned. Slamming the door closed and locking it, he stalked up to Adrian and gripped him by the shirt collar. I was reminded of what I had done to him a few hours ago when he spiked my drink, and I giggled.

Eddie shook him good and hard. "You're dead, you fucking bastard," he growled. "Carly's _grandma_ just made out with me, and let me tell you, her lips were as wrinkled as her ass must be."

Against his better judgment, Adrian snickered. Frustrated with the way Adrian was handling his threat, Eddie let go, marching off to the trash can to spit. I had to admit, he wasn't this jerkish sober, but he _was_ wasted. I was willing to bet tons of money he'd be apologizing tomorrow, if he even remembered this.

The night went on, and more truths and dares came and went. One distant thought followed me around the entire night: _You're going to have one hell of a hangover._

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**See, told ya they were all drunk and mindless! **I just loveeed Eddie in this chapter. So cute!

**On my page,** I posted all of my fave stories, all of which are awesome VA fanfictions. Really - _read them!_ They're so totally awesome!

**xoxo,  
**Ryan


	10. Helluva Hangover

**I got Chapter 10 up! **Yay** :) **Nice job on those 100+ reviews! I'm done bothering you with them now lol. I posted the link for the outfit Rose wore for the after-party on my profile, so if you're interested in a pic of those black leopard high-tops she wore go check it outtt.

**Also, many of you have awesome stories of your own that you're updating often.** Please don't get mad if you don't see me reviewing on them, or if you're not one of my fave authors or whatever. I really would review your story, but my computer won't let me open more than one window and it's so slow that it doesn't pull websites up that good, so I can't review. But my mom keeps promising to get me a new computer in the next few days, so it'll be all good soon, 'kay? Thank you! Much love** ;)**

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"Ugh . . . Adrian, will you hand me that ice pack and bottle of Tylenol?"

I groaned, lifting my feet up onto the couch and leaning my head back onto the pillow. I was in Lissa's room, and Adrian was with us. Lissa was on her bed, practically passed out from last night's events. Dimitri was working his shift, trying also to fight off his hangover. Adrian was here to advise us on how to handle our first hangover in a whole year.

Adrian returned, laying the wrapped-up ice pack on my forehead and handing me the glass of ice water and two pills. "Thanks," I murmured.

"No problem, little dhampir. Is Lissa going to be alright?" He jerked his head in the direction of Lissa, who could pass for dead right about now.

"Yeah," I said. "She's not having any suicidal or homicidal thoughts right now, so she's good."

"My worry is that she's not having _any_ thoughts."

I sat up a little, laying down becoming a little too uncomfortable. "You mean is she still alive? She's breathing; she's just . . . in pain. And, uh, cramping."

Adrian almost snorted. "Ah, I see."

"I can freaking hear you guys," I heard Lissa moan. "Yes, I'm on my period. But before you laugh about my crappy bleeding every month, go switch bodies with a girl, experience her period cramps, and then come talk to me. Bet you won't feel the same then, asshole."

I laughed, my head throbbing, but I couldn't help it. And I thought Lissa was bitchy when she was just on her period. . . . Add a hangover and she became your worst nightmare.

Adrian sputtered, taking offense. "Well, then, get your own Tylenol! And I called myself caring for playing mother and helping you two with your hangovers." Still muttering to himself, Adrian exited out the door, slamming it closed behind him. Lissa and I both moaned, but unlike me Lissa threw her alarm clock at the door in antagonism.

Five seconds later, the door opened again, and Adrian emerged through the doorway, looking sheepish.

"Back already?" I grumbled, just about to fall asleep.

"No . . . yes. You two are the only entertainment I have. Everyone else is passed out in their rooms, sleeping or moaning in pain."

"Well you might as well leave again, 'cause we're about to go to sleep too."

Adrian sighed heavily. "Fine, fine, be boring. See if I care." When I didn't hear the door open, signaling his departure, I peeked through half-closed lids.

Adrian was looking at me expectantly. When I opened my eyes, he whined, "_Rose!_ Come on, I'm always drunk, but you don't see me sleeping or being boring the next morning!"

"That's because you get drunk all over again before you can get a hangover," I muttered.

"_Please_? Pretty please come downstairs and watch a movie with me? I'll buy you popcorn. . . ."

I sighed. "And you really think popcorn is a reasonable bribe for someone suffering?"

Adrian pretended to think for a moment. "Yes," he concluded.

I made a sound similar to the "wrong answer" noise buzzers make. "Wrong. Try again next week." I still didn't hear the door open. "No, seriously - bother me next week. I'm too tired right now."

Adrian must've been about to open his mouth to speak, because then Lissa said, "She said leave us the fuck alone, dick-head."

Not even ten seconds later I heard the sweet, joyful noise of the door opening and closing, and I drifted off into a painless, blissful sleep.

* * *

"Rose? Rose, wake up!"

I groaned as an earthquake erupted under me. "You bastard Oompa Loompa, I said give me the fucking pink unicorn back."

Rolling over, I caught a snippet of giggles and whispering. My eyes snapped open.

Lissa was staring me in the face, not even five inches from me.

I jumped, startled, my hangover completely numbed from the nap and Tylenol. "Woah, Liss, at least give me some sort of warning that you're going to do that."

She put her hands on her hips. "Well I told you to wake up, and I even shook you."

"So that's what that was," I muttered.

"Get up," Lissa said, reaching down to pull the cover off of me.

"Lissa," I moaned, my legs suddenly freezing in the cool air. "Why do I have to get up so early?"

Lissa gaped at me, and behind her Adrian stared, too. "Rose, it's one in the afternoon on a weekend! You've slept half the day away!"

I sat up then, walking over to the door where her alarm clock still lay. Picking it up and shaking it a few times made the numbers show up. It read 1:02.

"Huh. So I did."

Lissa snorted. "Yeah. You did. Now let's go, we're already late for lunch."

"Yep," Adrian added, coming up behind us as we walked down the hallway and draping an arm around our shoulders. "They're serving roasted chicken, green salad, and fruit pudding for dessert."

"Yum," I grumbled, shrugging his arm off.

* * *

"Hey Rose, how come Guardian Belikov was at the after-party last night?"

I looked up from my disgusting lumpy fruit pudding and into the eyes of Jesse Zeklos and his partner-in-crime, Ralf.

I sighed through my nose. I knew people would ask about it sooner or later. "Because he insisted on monitoring us to make sure we stayed safe. There was a minor breach in the wards and he didn't want any Strigoi crashing our party." It was a lie, but a plausible one.

Ralf believed it and was about to walk away, but Jesse, said, "If he really wanted to make sure we stayed safe, why was he head-over-heels wasted?"

Lissa's face was a mirror of my thoughts: anxious and fearful. _Think, Rose, think. _"Adrian spiked his drink." I grinned evilly.

Jesse looked aghast. "You _spiked_ a guardian's drink? That's crazy, even for you. You could get expelled for that, you know."

Normally I would've thought he would like that idea. Huh. "_I_ didn't spike it dumbshit. I said Adrian spiked it, and he's not even a student here."

Ralf smirked. "He could still be banned from school grounds."

I laughed. "You're a dumbfuck too if you think I care. It's _Adrian_. He'll be fine, and plus Dimitri can't remember anything. I don't even think he's had a drink before."

I must've satisfied what they came here for because then they turned and left.

Lissa was immediately in my ear. "Rose, that was so close! What if they tell Kirova you spiked a guardian's drink? You'll be in so much trouble, and even if they say Adrian did it he'll be banned from campus for nothing!"

"Relax, Liss," I said. "It'll be fine. Jesse and Ralf are a lot of things, but they're not tattletales. And even if word did get around to Kirova, we can tell her that, yeah, Dimitri came to the party, but he didn't really get drunk. He just interacted with everything to make the students feel more . . . I dunno, at ease, and like nothing was up. And they can't do anything to me for getting drunk. Everyone was, and it was a weekend. So there's nothing to worry about."

Lissa nodded, but through the bond I felt that she was still concerned. Of course there was nothing I could really do for that, except for make things seem as normal as possible.

* * *

_The Next Day. . . ._

"Oh my god, Rose! Graduation's _tomorrow! _Can you believe it? I didn't even realize it 'till I saw a poster outside one of my classes. We have to go get out nails and hair done today. Right now, preferably. It's only 5:30, so human stores will be opening soon. Come on, if we ask soon enough Kirova might allow it! I'm sure tons of other girls have already asked!"

"Huh?" I looked up from the computer I was sitting at. Lissa was standing in the middle of my room, having just burst through my door.

She sighed, stomping over to the middle of the room and dropping her bag on the floor, books and pencils spilling out. "I said graduation's tomorrow and we need to get dolled up."

My blood ran cold. "Graduation is _tomorrow_?"

Lissa gawked at me. "_Yes! _Rose, is something wrong? You seem really out of it. You weren't like this yesterday."

I shot out of my chair, running to the calendar on the opposite side of my bedroom. I flipped through the pages, counting days. "Liss, what day was yesterday?" I asked.

"June third, why? Rose, you're really scaring me now."

I continued counting. "No . . . it can't be. . . ."

"Rose! I swear I'm about ready to run back out the door and grab Dr. Olendzki, and you know how weird she gets every time you come into her office."

But I didn't hear Lissa. I was too busy staring at the calendar. Graduation was _tomorrow_. Which meant everyone would know about Dimitri and me _tomorrow_.

My stomach twisted with nerves. _God, Rose, get it together! This is what you wanted. This is what you still want - no one holding you back from loving Dimitri._

But I was still so nervous. I wondered where all the bravado and confidence I had had so recently about this whole relationship went. Before, I wouldn't have cared. Before, I would've said bring it on, and I would've been ready to run outside and make out with Dimitri in front of the whole student body, whether it was graduation or not. But now . . . I was worried. What if the school _was_ able to do something, considering they would know we were in love while Dimitri was still working? What would Queen Tatiana do if she found out? Take me away from Lissa? And, oh god, what would my _mother_ say? Even worse, my _father!_ He'd break Dimitri's legs off!

Suddenly, my head snapped to the side in a swift, jerking motion, and I fell to the floor, caught off guard. My vision blurred, and the world was a whirlwind around me. Seconds later, I began making out shapes and the dizziness faded . . . but it was all replaced with a scorching sting on the side of my face.

I looked up at Lissa. Her hands were covering her mouth, and her eyes were wide with shock.

I held my hand up to my cheek, and the appalling realization that I had just been slapped came to mind.

I followed my gaze to a shape looming near my vision, and turned my head.

"Dimitri?"

Dimitri was kneeling at my side. "Rose, are you okay?"

Well let's see, my head is sore from the impact of my fall, and my cheek is currently in so much pain that my eyes are tearing just the slightest bit. Does that seem okay to you? I thought. But all I could manage to say was, "My cheek. . . ."

Dimitri bit his lip. "I'm so sorry about that. Rose, you were just standing there staring into space. You stood there for so long that you didn't even notice Lissa leaving the room and running down a flight of stairs, then returning. What were you thinking?"

My head managed to clear enough that my speech skills came back. "Graduation . . . it's tomorrow, Dimitri."

A small smile played on Dimitri's lips. "Yes, it is."

I sighed, moving myself into a more comfortable position. Lissa was watching us, and I think she was still recovering from seeing me bitch-slapped. "I'm scared, Dimitri."

"Oh, Roza," he breathed, scooting over to wrap his arms around me. My arms circled his waist, and he pulled me to him tight, planting a kiss on my forehead as he rocked me back and forth. "It'll be okay. Everyone graduates eventually. Besides, you should be happy to get out of this hell hole, as you like to call it."

I grinned at his use of "hell hole". "That's not what I'm afraid of Dimitri. I'm afraid that we'll still get in trouble."

I felt Dimitri tense, and then he hugged me more firmly. "Roza, no one can do anything to us once you graduate. We'll be free, you'll be Lissa's guardian, and I'll be someone else's guardian at Court so that we can always see each other. Things are going to work out, trust me."

I laughed humorlessly. "So what fortune-cookie destiny will you read to me when Abe finds out?"

Dimitri stiffened again, but this time he didn't relax. I moved my head so I could see his face. "I'm sure he would react the same way any concerned parent would. And he would have every right to. I'm still seven years older than you."

I smirked. "Wear lots of padding," I said, patting his chest sympathetically.

* * *

**You likey? **Next chapter up tomorrow, but I'll start on it tonight :) They'll be going to the mall in the next chapter, and, as promised, there will also be tons more action. What, did you think things stay all happy and bright throughout the whole story? THINK AGAIN! Hahaha. Thank you to those who reviewed! You ROCK.  
_**xoxo,**_  
Ryan**  
OH, P.S. **Just so you guys know, I always had the story planned out to begin just a few days before graduation. It mentions somewhere in Chapter 3 that graduation was "a few days away". So, no, it wasn't accidental. Just so you know **:)**


	11. Pampered

**Oh my gosh, you guys don't know how good it feels to have another chapter up!** I missed writing, but things were so busy I can't even begin to explain! I'm so so sorry for going so long without updating, and I just want to thank the people who continued to review and P.M. me even though I wasn't writing a single thing - you guys ROCK! Here's chapter 11. I love you all! Enjoy, this is for you.

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"I can't believe Kirova said yes," Lissa gushed as she led me down what I assumed was the sidewalk. I couldn't really check and make sure because I was blindfolded and more than a little on-edge about not being able to see my surroundings. I hadn't realized how heavily I relied on my sense of sight, and realized as a guardian I would be faced with many situations where I'd be without it. Dimitri wouldn't exactly approve of me right now if he knew how I was feeling, which I doubt he needed to know. He had to have seen me stumble the few times since we've been out of the van.

I tried to relax as much as possile, not wanting Lissa to sense my irritance and ruin her good mood. She had been so happy about getting the chance to surprise me, and I wasn't about to mess things up. "I can. _You_ were asking, after all."

I heard her sigh. "You know she doesn't like me any more than the other students. And plus, I just figured more girls would've been asking."

"I'm sure they have. I don't think Kirova would've said no if the entire school asked. It _is_ graduation. I just wonder if we're a little early. . . ."

"No, we're fine. A lot of human stores open around this time." It was around 7 a.m. human-time, which means evening in our time.

I stumbled again, and Lissa caught me, jerking me upright. I groaned inwardly. Every stumble I made, I counted as a mark against me as if I were being graded.

"Are we there yet?" I asked.

Lissa giggled. "I guess you can say that."

I frowned. "Liss," I whined, "is that a yes or a no?"

I heard the sound of bells in front of me. I felt Lissa untying the blindfold. When she pulled it off, a shudder ran through my body. I sighed in pleasure, so happy my sight was back.

Lissa was standing off to my side. She cleared her throat expectantly.

For the first time, I noticed where we were. We were standing directly in front of a day spa, a guardian from the Academy holding the door open for us. Dimitri was behind us, once again doing the strange "seeing-without-actually-seeing" thing.

"Well?" Lissa asked. "What do you think?"

Slowly, a grin creeped into place. "Liss. . . . Oh my god, is that a massage table?"

Lissa laughed. "Yeah. Wanna go get one? You know, last time we were at a spa our full-body's were shortened to foot rubs."

"I know," I said. "But we're here now, so let's go!"

The guardian that held open the door left us, leaving to go sit at one of the outdoor tables at the cafe next door. Dimitri walked over to a couple of couches and sat down, picking up a magazine and acting the part of our uncle or something.

"Excuse me," Lissa murmured to the blonde-haired lady sitting at the receptionist desk. "I'm Lissa Dragomir; I had a 7:30 hair, makeup, mani-pedi and massage appointment."

The lady nodded and typed some stuff into her computer. While she and Lissa conversed about something-or-other, my eyes drifted around the spa. The base colors seemed to be lilac, white, and gold. The massage tables were plush purple cotton lined in gold, the couches were white and creamy velvet, and the floor altered between a dusty-gray thick, fuzzy carpet and white linoleum tile.

I felt Dimitri staring. I turned my head and met his eyes, and thoughts of wondrous admiration for this man flew through my mind. We had been through so much together - had shared so much together - and it was what bound us in an inseperable bond that we would both never have with another person. We had this connection so unlike anyone else's that at times, I couldn't even understand it. I _loved_ him.

He smiled, and as my thoughts dispatched, dropping me back into the present and leaving me out of the intellectual-land I had previously been in, I couldn't help but wonder if he had been thinking thoughts similar to mine.

"Hey Rose, check out these towels! They feel so comfy. . . ."

I turned to see Lissa rubbing a lilac, gold-initialed towel on her cheek, dazed.

I laughed. "Why are you rubbing a towel on your cheek?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot - here's yours." Her hand shot out, armed with a matching purple towel, smushing it against my cheek while she continued to massage her face.

I couldn't help another laugh. "Lissa! Come on, are we supposed to put these on?"

She grinned. "Yup. We're having our massage first, and the lady said to put them on in the dressing room and grab a pair of slippers on our way out."

"Then let's go! I'm tense and in need of some relaxation." I grabbed her, and, laughing, we headed off to get changed.

* * *

"Rose, that guy was totally into you."

I groaned. Lissa and I had just finished our massages and mani/pedi's, and I wasn't in the mood to talk about my masseuse, who flirted with me nonstop the entire time he massaged me and did my nails. The horrible part was that I couldn't just tell him that the man I loved was sitting not twenty feet from us.

"That guy sucked. Tell the truth - how often did Dimitri look over?"

Lissa giggled. "A lot. It was weird, he would look like it was hysterical to him one moment, then look like he wanted to break that guy's neck the next. I think it mostly had to do with whatever your reaction was at the time."

I groaned again.

"Oh, cheer up. At least he gave awesome mani/pedi's," Lissa sighed, admiring her french-manicured nails. I had to agree with her, much to my distaste. He was awful at distinuishing a girl's disinterest from flirting, but at least he did kickass at my black-french-manicured nails, the opposite of Lissa's bright nude-colored ones.

"That he did. So what's next? Hair and makeup?"

Lissa nodded, and we walked over to a couple of black salon chairs, the counters filled with beauty paraphernalia.

I once again zoned out as Lissa made chit-chat with our stylists, two girls named Chastity and Rianne and a guy named Tristan.

I thought about graduation, how close it was: twenty hours from now. I would receive my promise mark, along with the other novices. Would I feel the intense amount of power and honor the other guardians spoke of when they reminisced of the time they got theirs? When the time came to recite the guardian Oath, would I foolishly stumble over the words and look insincere and careless? We had rehearsed every bit of graduation at the Academy before, but now that it was so soon I couldn't help but feel nervous.

"Rose! I swear you're acting funny today. I thought the massage would've helped clear your mind, but I guess not."

I looked up at Lissa's frowning face. "I'm sorry, what?"

Lissa sighed. "Chastity asked how you wanted your hair, and Tristan wanted to know if you had any special requirements for your makeup."

I looked to Chastity. I admired her short chocolate locks, streaked with honey-blonde highlights. "I basically wanted loose curls, but you can do them however you want. I trust you." I smiled.

"Great," she grinned. "You'll look fabulous when I'm done with you." She gently tugged my head back into a large basin, preparing to wash my hair. Lissa was already halfway done with her shampooing.

A new face popped up over me, grinning perkily. "Hi!" a guy squeaked.

I jumped. "Hi," I said warily.

"I'm Tristan, I'll be doing your makeup. I'll show you how to do it for tomorrow, and even send you home with the exact products I used. Now, with your complexion I would recommend this base foundation. It's sort of like a mousse, but it feels amazing and doesn't give your skin that flaky, peeling feel. . . ."

This guy was obviously gay, but I took a liking to him almost as soon as he opened his mouth. He was adorable, with blonde gelled-spikes and bright blue eyes.

As we discussed all of my makeup tips and trades, I felt my earlier stress about graduation disappearing. Things were going to be all right for once in my life.

* * *

**That felt good! **I would've kept going, but my fingers are sore and the chapter would've been waaaayy too long **:)** I'm typing a new chapter as we speak (and I also seem to be giving my bff dating advice for a guy four years older than us. . . .) Hugs and kisses to you all! MWAH  
**xoxo,  
**RyRy


	12. Graduation Shocks

**Wow, just reading you guys' reviews brought this huge grin to my face :D **I loved it! I felt the last chapter wasn't all that exciting, but somewhat necessary, so I wanted to make this chapter more interesting. It's Graduation Day! Heehee, the day of graduation for the kids at the Academy is unlike any normal school's, so beware! Enjoy lovely's.

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"Rose, wake up! C'mon, Kirova wants all novices and Moroi downstairs for breakfast!"

I groaned, turning over in my bed. A peek at my alarm clock said it was 6 o'clock p.m., meaning they were waking me up an hour early. I buried my face into my pillow, ignoring Lissa's shrill voice in my ear. "Go away, I'm sleeping."

"If you were sleeping you wouldn't be talking, so get up."

I snorted and pulled my blanket over my face.

"You asked for it. . . ." Lissa grumbled, and then grabbed ahold of my legs and tugged.

My hands shot out to grab the bed frame, bracing myself. And then I realized I shouldn't have had to do that - Lissa honestly wasn't strong enough to be pulling me as well as she was.

I looked down to the end of my bed, and my eyes widened. I was right - Lissa _wasn't_ strong enough to tug me out of bed. But Dimitri was.

They were each holding one of my legs, but it seemed like Dimitri was pulling the most weight. He smirked at me, tightening his grip. I released my hold on my bed, and Lissa had obviously been using every last bit of strength she had to help pull me because as soon as I let go, she flew back and fell to the floor.

I sat up in bed and crawled to the edge, looking over at Lissa. "Liss? Are you okay?"

Dimitri offered his hand, and she stood up. "Yeah," she said, rubbing her butt. "I'm good. You suck though."

I laughed. "So I've been told. What's Dimitri doing in my bedroom?" I asked, looking at him.

He grinned. "Lissa thought she would need help getting you up, and she thought right. A sleeping Rose is definitely a force to be reckoned with."

"No kidding," Lissa mumbled.

"Hey Liss, you know we could train you, right?"

Lissa's eyes got huge. "Oh . . . no, no, no, no, no. Nuh-uh. Too much pain, and I'll just be setting myself up for humiliation."

I rolled my eyes, throwing my covers back and walking over to my mirror to tame my hair, which was easy because it was still silky-smooth and wavy from yesterday. Dimitri sat on the corner of my bed, and Lissa was sitting in a chair. "Oh please, it's not that hard, and plus you'll have the most sympathetic and kickass trainers ever. It'll be fun."

Dimitri put his two cents in. "It won't be all that painful because you'll be starting off easy, not at all what Rose and I have to learn. And we'll go at your pace."

I watched Lissa bite her lip in my mirror, thinking. Finally, she said, "I'll think about it. I trust you guys. And I do want to learn how to throw a punch. I just don't know if I could fight. . . ."

I snorted. "If a guy put a gun up to Christian's throat, I'm sure you would try _something_."

Lissa laughed. "Maybe. But we'd better go so you can get ready, Kirova wants everyone downstairs in ten minutes. Something about a 'day for bonding'. She wants everyone to do these weird activities as a final way to bond before we graduate tonight."

Now _I_ laughed. "That's hilarious. Most kids don't give a shit about the rest of us. I'm one of them; I only care for a select few at this school, and the rest is just good riddance."

Dimitri stood up to open the door for Lissa. She stepped out, but looked back before leaving. "Oh Rose, how everyone will miss you and your witty comments so. See ya."

I waved bye, and blew a kiss to Dimitri, standing up to lock my door after they were gone. I quickly showered and threw on something in my closet, leaving ten minutes after they did and meeting them downstairs.

* * *

"As you all know, graduation for the Moroi and novices will take place in ten hours at approximately four o'clock in the morning, human-time. It's everyone's final day here, and I thought we should all make the best of it by making lovely parting memories in the halls of the Academy. Throughout the day, we shall all eat our meals together, and the teachers in all of your classes will engage the class in games instead of homework. . . ."

The entire senior class at the Academy was seated in the commons, having just had breakfast, gathered around the droning Kirova. I focused on writing a note to Lissa while Kirova went on and on about what we had in store for today. She was boring the hell out of me, to say the least.

I folded the note into thirds, and inconspicuously handed it to Eddie, who was sitting at my right. "Eddie," I whispered. His eyes, dancing with humor at my expense, flickered down to me. I grinned. "Pass this to Lissa?"

He nodded, and passed the note down to a novice in our classes. He passed the note along until it reached Lissa, and I watched closely to make sure no one read what was in it. She looked at me curiously before unfolding it.

"So can I ask what was in it?" Eddie whispered it to me once Lissa got the note.

I smiled. "Just your typical bored note to your best friend."

He chuckled. "Ah, I see."

I decided to explain further. "I asked her if she agreed that Kirova's boobs are in need of a lift."

Eddie sputtered a laugh, trying to cover it in a cough before Kirova noticed. "You two _would_ talk about something like that on graduation day."

I grinned. Eddie tapped my hand, unfolding it and sticking something in it. Lissa had returned the note.

I unfolded it, my eyes searching for her writing.

"Rose!" Eddie hissed. "Other side, hurry, Kirova's looking!"

I stuffed the paper into my back jeans pocket and sat up straighter, feigning nonchalance. I met Kirova's eyes and read the warning in them. She said a few more words, and then dismissed us.

I stood up and stretched, and then fetched the note out of my pocket. On the opposite side, in bright blue highlighter, it read, _PAY ATTENTION! ...but I agree, her boobs are in desperate need of a lift :)_

I laughed, and showed the note to Eddie. He laughed too, and then grabbed my hand. "Come on," he said, "Let's go."

I frowned as I followed him. "Where?"

Eddie looked back at me, disbelieving. "You mean you didn't hear a word of what she was saying?"

I just stared back at him.

"Right," he finally said as it clicked. "You're Rose. You never pay attention."

We laughed some more as we walked, still holding hands. I leaned my head against his shoulder, taking comfort from the easy-going friendship we had. "So what are we supposed to be doing?"

"We're still going to go about most of our day, going to classes and everything. But we don't have to bring our books, we don't get homework, and we only have a half school-day. The rest of the day goes to prep time for graduation."

"That's stupid," I snorted.

"Yeah, well, that's St. Vlad's Academy for you."

* * *

"Hey Rose, can you help fasten my dress?"

I got up from Lissa's couch and moved over to her struggling form. She raised her arms above her head while I tugged the zipper up on her purple silk one-strap graduation dress. It was beautiful, stopping mid-thigh.

"Thanks," she said, turning back to the mirror and adjusting her top.

"No problem," I said, walking over to her vanity mirror to check my makeup and dress. Graduation was less than half-an-hour away, and Eddie and Christian had agreed to come escort us. Lissa and I were getting ready in her room in the meantime. I could feel Lissa's nerves running wild, but aside from her feelings I was calm and collected.

My dress was black and strapless with silver embellishings running across the middle of it. It felt like heaven, and I couldn't stop running my hands down it.

It was Lissa's idea to have our hair in curls and our makeup both neutral and sparkly so that it'd match. The strange thing was that I actually liked the idea and had to admit that we looked great.

There was a quick knock on the door. Lissa cast me a quick excited glance and bounced to the door to open it. Christian and Eddie burst in.

"Whatever you're selling, we're not buying," I yelled without turning away from the mirror.

I felt two hands clasp my shoulders warmly, and I looked up in the mirror to see Eddie grinning and resting his chin in between his hand and my neck. "Well look at Miss Hathaway, all dolled up and cute. So what lucky man will be escorting you to the graduation ceremony, dare I ask?"

I grinned, reapplying my lipgloss as I played coy. "Oh, just this young fellow I met who was absolutely obsessed with me. . . . Well, he was supposed to, but something has prevented it. I say, I am glad for it too. I never even gave him the privelage to escort me! He took it upon himself. If only he could be gone permanently. . . ."

Eddie's eyebrows furrowed, and then he caught on. "Ah, I get it. You need a big, strong man such as myself to take care of him for you. Well look no further, beautiful maiden, for I am the man for the job. This fellow will bother you no further."

Lissa and Christian were quietly watching us in amusement from the couch. Well, Christian was actually flipping through a magazine, but Lissa seemed interested.

"Why thank you, kind sir. I shall give you his information so you can take care of this quickly and quietly. But since he has fallen ill recently and cannot escort me, I suppose you'll just have to do."

Eddie chuckled. "Yes," he said, giving me his arm. Lissa and Christian got up, taking this as the signal that we were ready to leave, "I suppose I will."

* * *

"And now, it is my great honor to introduce to you the senior graduating class of St. Vladimir's Academy. Will the Moroi now please come forward and receive their diplomas?"

I squeezed Lissa's hand encouragingly as she and the rest of the kids in her line walked around to the back lawn of St. Vlad's, where they would stand in front of the crowd of onlookers and smile until their name was called, where they would then proceed to walk around to the stage where Kirova would smile, shake their hand, and hand them their diploma.

Looking out into the crowd, I almost choked on air when I saw my mother holding hands with my father, Abe Mazur.

I laughed as I noticed he was wearing - a finely tailored suit and, despite the heat, a sapphire blue silk scarf. Not even the sun could tame his flashy fashion sense.

I watched as the Moroi names were called one by one. As Lissa's name was called, she went and literally_ hugged_ Kirova. I was shocked, but I laughed. It was hysterical.

The Moroi finished and it was the dhampirs' turn. Kirova said a few more words of congrats to the crowd, and then stepped down from the stage. Alberta took her place.

She announced that the novices would receive their tattoos in what was usually the dining room in the Academy, and that was where we would also finally receive our scores from the trials. My stomach was in knots as I followed my class back inside.

The dining room looked fantastic, having been transformed into something one would expect to find at Court. Friends, family, and guardians packed the room. There weren't any seats left. I spotted my mom and Abe in the very back row, smiling at me excitedly. I grinned back.

Tattooing wasn't a fast process, and with my entire class having to get them, it was bound to take a while. I spied Eddie standing with the rest of our class, and went to stand beside him.

We watched as, one by one, Alberta called the names of the graduating novices, reading their scores. The scores were _very_ important. They would be made public, meaning anyone - even the Royals - would be able to see them. They influenced our assignments.

Lissa had, of course, requested me as her guardian, but that didn't mean I would necessarily receive her, especially with all of the black marks on my behavioral record.

No Moroi were here at the ceremony though, except for some who had been invited by the new graduates. Guests were seated in the back, senior guardians in the front. My classmates and I had to stand.

I watched the faces of my classmates as they were tattooed, expressions ranging from scared to pained to joyous.

Eddie's name was called then, and I watched him get his tattoo. He smiled at me the entire time. When his scores were read off, his face changed to shock, and my grin widened even more. He scored amazingly high on one-on-one Moroi protection, and his grades were just as high. Royals would be battling to get their hands on him. _Smart-ass_, I thought, chuckling to myself.

He laughed, still shocked but obviously overjoyed. I was so happy for him. Eddie deserved the chance to get a high-ranking Moroi to guard.

My name was called soon after Eddie, and I heard a few gasps as Alberta read off my scores. So far, I had the highest score in the class by far. Sweet.

I heard Lionel, the school tattooist, grunt. My neck was covered in marks and he'd have to be crafty if he wanted to place my promise mark in the center of my neck. But he succeeded.

Even though I had gotten tattooed before, it still hurt, but I managed to keep a blank face. After seeing it in a mirror, Lionel covered it to help it heal cleanly.

It was another two hours before the rest of my classmates were finished with their marks, but I didn't mind. I was finally a guardian.

Alberta came over to Lissa and I and told us that a jet would be prepared to take us to Court the next morning. I knew which people that consisted of: Me, Lissa, Christian, Eddie, Tasha Ozera, and Dimitri. We would all receive our assignments there.

The people in the room dispersed, leaving to get ready before the celebration began. I left too, parting from Lissa to change again. As I was walking, though, I couldn't help but think of Mason.

I felt so sad and broken in that instant, and all of a sudden memories came flooding back: Mason, smiling and playfully bumping my shoulder. Mason, the determination on his face when he found out about the Spokane Strigoi. Mason, good, kindhearted Mason, fear slowly spreading across his face in the split instant his neck was snapped, ending his life. Mason, his face blank and lifeless as he laid on the floor, no longer among the land of the living.

I wasn't aware of the tears running in rivulets down my cheeks and chin until a felt a tender arm wrap around me, murmuring soothing words of consolation and swiping the tears away with a thumb.

I heaved a breath, trying to control myself as I wrapped my arms around the waist of my comforter.

"Shh, Roza, it's okay. Why are you crying?"

I gave a small sniffle. "I was. . . I was just thinking of Mason."

Dimitri held me tighter. "Oh, Rose. . . . I'm so sorry. I know how much you miss him."

I wiped another tear from my eye. "He wanted graduation to come so badly, Dimitri. He couldn't wait to be released into the guardian world. And he would've made such a wonderful guardian, too, anyone would've been safe with Mason."

"I know. You're right. He was an excellent student, and an even better person. He loved you."

I looked up into Dimitri's face. When I looked into his eyes, I didn't see jealousy in the words, or anything of the kind. He had been stating a fact - Mason loved me. Pure and simple. And it was true. But I felt so guilty because I couldn't return his affection. My heart had been with Dimitri. Before Spokane, I had upset him because we had been flirting and it eventually ended with him in my room, kissing me. We had come close to having sex, and Mason had been so gentle with me. . . . But when he kissed me, I imagined it was Dimitri. I had abruptly stopped, and he thought I had just been playing with his feelings. He left for Spokane after that, and even though I knew he had forgiven me in the time we were there, it still hurt all the same.

I planted a kiss on his chest, my lips lingering on the fabric of his crisp white shirt. "I know."

We each took simultaneous breaths. "Come on," Dimitri exhaled, flashing me a reassuring smile. "It's graduation. Time for your party."

* * *

An hour and a half later, and my feet were already killing. Dimitri hadn't been kidding about it being my party. Abe was here, and had managed to secure a small banquet room for a party in my honor. And in the typical Abe Mazur style, he made it look as elaborate as a Moroi party would be. The lights were on, with food, some music, and a few tables for the families to sit and talk with their kids.

Lissa and I were dancing in the space on the other side of the room, with a few other kids. The music wasn't blasting, or anything you'd hear in a club, but it was . . . danceable.

"Rose!" I heard someone call to me. I looked over and saw Abe grinning from ear-to-ear, waving me over. My mother was standing next to him, smiling.

I came over, hugging both of them. "Hey, old man," I greeted my dad. He had recently shown up out of nowhere for my trials a couple of weeks ago. It had been the first time I met him, and boy, was I surprised. He was like a mobster. I half-expected him to pull out a gun on Adrian after he made the mistake of putting his arm around my shoulder in front of Abe.

I hadn't exactly been happy to have the father that disappeared from my life before I was even born randomly show up at my school, but I lightened up eventually. Besides, Janine told me it was really her fault that Abe was never there, and he would've never came if she didn't make the call to invite him. Abe never knew my mom was pregnant. Janine had just randomly left him one day, saying that she needed to leave and had a reputation to maintain. So Abe had a lot of time to make up with me, and throwing a stylish party was one of his ways.

Abe grinned. "So how do you like the party? Flashy, huh?"

I rolled my eyes. "I'll say. Definitely not something I'd expect for a lowly dhampir such as myself."

Abe's grin instantly turned to a frown. "You're a _long_ way from being lowly. You had the best scores in the class. Everyone was impressed."

My mother stepped forward then, placing her hands on my shoulders. "That's right, Rose. You did _amazing_ out there. I'm so proud of you."

I almost couldn't believe my ears. I would forever remember this moment. I smiled. "Thanks, mom. And Abe."

He laughed. "Hey, I threw you a party. I think I deserve the title of 'Dad' now."

"Don't push it."

He chuckled. "Yeah, you definitely have my personality."

My eyes locked with Dimitri's across the room, who was standing around some other guardians, chatting. He smiled and waved me over.

"Hello," I said in a pleasant tone, coming to stand beside him. Stan nodded a greeting.

"Well hello to you too, Ms. Hathaway," Alberta smiled.

I grinned. "Hey, I've graduated now, so since I'm an official guardian you can either call me Rose or Guardian Hathaway - er, strike that last one. I sound like my mother."

Dimitri laughed. "Okay, _Rose - _you _do _know that since you're a guardian now, you won't have nearly as much free time as a novice does, right?"

Alberta snorted. "_Nearly?_ More like none at all!"

We all laughed, and I made eye contact with Dimitri before diving in to the real reason I was over here. "Since I've graduated, I can't get in trouble for anything anymore, can I?"

Stan looked at me. "Well," he joked, "if you do anything illegal you'll have to take that up with Queen Tatiana."

I smiled. "No, I didn't mean that. I meant, you guys can't give me a detention or suspend me or anything like that anymore, can you?"

Alberta laughed. "Of course not. I wish we could, but you're one of us now."

Gathering up all of my wits, I cast one final glance at Dimitri, and I saw realization of what I was really doing cross his features. His eyes widened slightly, but he quickly regained a poker face.

I picked up Dimitri's hand and turned it over in mine, before entertwining it with mine and letting our hands hang between us.

When the guardians' eyes flickered down and stared at our hands, they suddenly felt like a deadweight.

Stan's mouth gaped. "You two. . . ."

Dimitri clasped my hand tighter. "Rose and I are . . . in love. And we've been in love ever since Rose returned to the Academy."

* * *

**OMG, how 'bout that cliff-hanger? **I'm sorry haha, I'm being so mean** :)  
xoxo,  
**Ryan


	13. Broken

**Hi everyone! **I was so excited about New Year's that I just _had_ to post this chapter up, three hours before midnight **:) **Merry belated Christmas to all, and I hope each one of you have a safe, happy, successful New Year! Enjoy the chapter (and the long-promised action at the end!)

* * *

Stan's expression was priceless. "You've been in love all this time, and never said a word to anyone?"

I smirked. "Yep."

Alberta didn't look the slightest bit surprised, which was expected.

Stan shook his head slowly, still shell-shocked. "I can't believe this . . . Two guardians in love. And they're both guarding the same people! The whole thing is forbidden."

Dimitri's eyes were blazing. "We know. And yet here we are, still _in love_. And Rose and I are probably more able to guard Lissa and Christian without our love getting in the way than anyone. And you both know that."

By this point, other people were starting to cast wary glances our way, sensing the obvious tension. I grasped Dimitri's hand a little tighter, and tugged on it, trying to relay the message that he should relax a bit. My earlier audacity about letting the cat out of the bag was diminishing as the realization dawned that we could both get into really big trouble if Queen Tatiana found out. She just might have us guard seperate people.

Dimitri had begun to notice the looks too. He took a brisk step back, and lowered his voice to a murmur. "Look, we know how dangerous this is. But it isn't like we're going to abandon Lissa and Christian."

Alberta spoke up for the first time. "He's right. Guardians like Dimitri come rare, and we all know how serious Rose is about her duties. They won't abandon the Princess, or her male friend."

Stan's face was more composed by now. "I know that. But if this had come out any sooner than today, I hope you all know Belikov would've immediately been stripped of his guardian title, and Rose could've been facing expulsion, or an equally serious punishment. She might've even missed out on guarding Lissa. At least you didn't have sex."

Dimitri and I decided to not comment on that.

Thankfully, Lissa came over exactly at that moment.

"Rose, come on! They're toasting the graduating classes!"

I smiled at Stan and Alberta, and tossed a knowing look at Dimitri before walking away with Lissa.

She took us to a long white-draped table, where Abe stood at the head. A few adult Moroi were already seated around the table, champagne glasses in hand.

Abe began to speak, loud voice captivating everyone's attention with his natural charisma. "Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to propose a toast to the graduating dhampir and Moroi classes. They have come a very long way, and it is always a special moment when we release intelligent Moroi and highly-trained novices into the world. But forgive me, because the novices of which I have spoken are no longer novices, but now have been given something that is a great honor to them, and us as well: Guardian titles."

Several graduated novices standing around the table gave loud whoops and catcalls. Some Moroi at the table gave amused grins and laughs, and clapped politely.

I, of course, was one of the loudest whoopers.

When everyone quieted down, Abe continued. "So it is in their honor that I propose this toast. Cheers, to the success of the students!"

The sound of champagne flutes clanking rang out loud and clear, but one sound became more evident than the rest.

The sound of a window breaking.

* * *

**I told you guys there would be action coming up! **And here it is!** :) **School starts back on Monday for me **:(** But that's okay, because at least I have you guys and your awesome reviews!**  
xoxo,  
**Ryan

**P.S. **HAPPY NEW YEAR'S!


	14. Reunion

**I'm so so sorry for the really long wait. **My cheerleading season just ended and I finally found some time to write a new chapter (while also working on a script for a curriculum fair project **:P**) You have no idea how much satisfaction writing this chapter brought me. I didn't realize how much I missed posting stuff **:)**

* * *

I immediately kicked into guardian mode.

The realization that this was my first Strigoi attack as an actual guardian (and that we hadn't even received our stakes and guns yet) never even occurred to me.

I spied Dimitri in my peripheral vision, already fighting off a tall brunette Strigoi, trying to catch my eye whenever he could.

I took a nano-second to analyze everything around me.

The Moroi in the room were all safe in one way or another, Alberta holding a door open and quickly ushering them out with one hand while wielding a stake in the other. Lissa was among them. I knew they were headed towards the church, where they would be safest.

The Strigoi had broken the largest window in the room, stretching from floor to ceiling and wide enough for three people to walk through at a time.

There were about twelve guardians in the room, and fifteen Strigoi, some already halfway in the room and others still huddled outside of the window. And God only knew how many were outside trying to find a way inside the dorms or school.

I ran over to Alberta, who was the closest to me. She pushed the last Moroi out of the room before turning to face me.

"I need a stake," I told her.

She nodded once, and then withdrew a shiny silver stake from the back pocket of her pants and handed it to me. "Keep this with you always. We never got the chance to hand them out, but you can have yours early." I thanked her.

I rushed over to Dimitri's side, stake in hand. He was in the middle of fending off three Strigoi, the brunette one laying dead at his feet. Only the blond one noticed my arrival. He turned around, baring his fangs, red eyes blazing. I aimed a jab at his chest with my stake, but he effectively dodged it, swinging his arm at my head at the same time.

I ducked low, missing his arm, and swung my leg out to knock his feet from under him, just like Dimitri had taught me long ago in one of our training sessions.

He ungracefully fell to the ground, but sprung right back up before I could deliver a kick. "_Shit_," I muttered under my breath.

I backed up every so often as we exchanged blows, trying to draw him as far from Dimitri as possible to make it easier for him.

It was very obvious that this was an old, powerful Strigoi. He reminded me of Isaiah.

"You foolish girl!" the Strigoi spat as I kicked him in the gut.

He bent over for just a second, but it was all I needed to jab him in the back with my elbow while simultaneously kneeing him in the face. He grunted, and then dropped to his hands and knees. I kicked him once more, hard enough to roll him onto his back. And then I cleanly thrust my stake into his heart, killing him.

After removing my stake, I glanced back over at Dimitri. Stan had joined him, and they were faring well from the looks of it.

I spied a Strigoi on the other side of the room, just about to make her exit through the door Alberta had left open. I sprinted over and slammed it shut, mere centimeters from her face.

She hissed and whirled on me, too bloodthirsty to even notice the stake I had concealed behind my back. In one fluid motion, I shoved it into her chest, piercing her heart.

She gasped. "You. . ."

I didn't bother to look at her as she fell. And I didn't even ponder what nasty name she had been about to call me if she'd had more time to finish.

Dimitri jogged over to me, him and Stan finished with their two Strigoi. "We're done here, but a couple escaped onto campus, and we suspect there might be a few more lurking around. Are you okay?"

I nodded briskly, still in kill-mode. "I'm fine. How are you and Stan?"

Stan walked up beside us then. "Stan is absolutely great," he said, speaking in a clipped third-person tone. "Stan just wants you two to know that after this is all over, you'll be elaborating to Stan about this 'secret affair' you were apparently having."

I grimaced. Dimitri somehow managed to appear indifferent. "Uh, yeah, first let's take care of the Strigoi, shall we?" I said, slowly backing towards the window, waiting for them to follow.

They both nodded, and we headed out. The window was the quickest way outside, and we sprinted off to the elementary campus, running out into the warm air. The sky seemed much darker than it did just one short hour ago. When we arrived, what I saw there brought back painful memories.

Out in the open area in front of the campus raged a battle, exactly like the one that occured months ago when the wards were breached by Strigoi and I almost lost Dimitri. Bodies littered the ground, both Strigoi and guardians. There were at least twenty Strigoi out here, and about half as many guardians. I heard Stan hurriedly tell Dimitri that the Moroi that were in their dorms were safe, every single one in either their room or another's, and there were plenty of guardians around each floor to keep the Strigoi out.

Suddenly, something slammed into me from behind, knocking me to the ground.

My mind barely registered the fact that the fall had made me skin my knee and hands, and my lip was bleeding from my tooth nicking it. I rolled over and quickly hopped to my feet.

Standing before me, hissing viciously, was a blonde Strigoi. And not just any one. The one that tried to turn Dimitri in the last attack.

I immediately struck out with my stake in the direction of his chest. He dodged it effectively.

"It's you," he grunted out, right before I landed a kick to his groin area. I pulled my foot back before he could grab it. "Isn't this familiar? Our second time battling. . . ."

I ignored him. He was right about this being familiar; last time our school was attacked, we were fighting each other, in this very spot. I knew he'd remember me: the girl who went psycho-bitch on him and stabbed him in the back with her stake repeatedly (sadly missing his heart _every_ time) when he'd spoken of killing Lissa.

I felt something get shoved into me from behind. Risking a quick look behind me, I saw that it was a Strigoi Emil was fighting. I hurriedly drove my stake through his Strigoi's heart before turning back to face mine. Right as I was striking out to aim another jab at my Strigoi's heart, I heard a mumbled, distracted, "Thanks," from Emil.

"I haven't found that blasted Dragomir girl yet, but when I do- Shit!" I didn't even let him finish the sentence before managing an unpward strike towards his face, dragging the stake's tip across his cheek.

"You won't lay a hand on her," I growled. And, taking the opportunity he had given me when he began to charge me, I drove my stake through his chest.

The transformation in his eyes lasted only a second: Confused, then enraged, and then finally blank. He dropped to the ground in a crumpled heap, and I removed my stake before leaving, not even sparing a look at the Strigoi who came unbelievably close to killing the man I loved.

The entire thing was surreal enough as it was, and I stood there for a moment, pain-filled memories rushing back to me from that attack when we were evacuating the cave. . . .

* * *

_"Start retreating!" Alberta yelled._

_None of us wanted to leave, but there wasn't much we could do. I saw one guardian fall, and my heart lurched. I hadn't known him, but it didn't matter. In seconds my mother was on the Strigoi attacker, driving her stake through his heart._

_Then I lost sight of the fight as I rounded another corner with the three guardians with me. Farther down the corridor, I saw faint purplish light. The exit. Faces of other guardians peered in at us. We'd made it. But where were the others?_

_We ran to the exit, emerging into the air. My group clustered by the opening, anxious to see what had happened. The sun, I was dismayed to see, was nearly gone. The nausea hadn't left me, which meant Strigoi were still alive._

_Moments later, my mother's party came tearing down the hall. By the numbers, one more had gone down. But they were so close. Everyone around me tensed up. So close. So, so close._

_But not close enough. Three Strigoi lay in wait in one of the alcoves. We'd passed them, but they'd let us go by. It all happened so fast; no one could have reacted in time. One of the Strigoi grabbed Celeste, his mouth and fangs going for her cheek. I heard a strangled scream and saw blood everywhere. One of the Strigoi went for Ms. Carmack, but my mother jerked her away and shoved her forward toward us._

_The third Strigoi grabbed Dimitri. In all the time I'd known him, I'd never seen Dimitri falter. He was always faster, always stronger than everyone else. Not this time. This Strigoi had caught him by surprise, and that slight edge was all it had taken._

_I stared. It was the blonde Strigoi. The one who had spoken to me in the battle._

_He grabbed Dimitri and pulled him to the ground. They grappled, strength against strength, and then I saw those fangs sink into Dimitri's neck. The red eyes flicked up and made contact with my own._

_I heard another scream - this time, it was my own._

_My mother started to double back toward the fallen, but then five more Strigoi appeared. It was chaos. I couldn't see Dimitri anymore; I couldn't see what had happened to him. Indecision flashed over my mother's features as she tried to decide to flee or flight, and then, regret all over her face, she kept running toward us and the exit. Meanwhile, I was trying to run _back_ inside, but someone was stopping me. It was Stan._

_"What are you doing, Rose? More are coming."_

_Didn't he understand? Dimitri was in there. I had to get Dimitri._

_My mother and Alberta burst out, dragging Ms. Carmack. A group of Strigoi were after them, skidding to a halt just on the edge of the waning light. I was still fighting Stan. He didn't need the help, but my mother grasped a hold of me and tugged me away._

_"Rose, we have to get out of here!"_

_"He's in there!" I screamed, straining as hard as I could. How could I have killed two Strigoi and not been able to break free from these two? "Dimitri's in there! We have to go back for him! We can't leave him!"_

_I was rambling, hysterical, shouting at them all that we had to go rescue Dimitri. My mother shook me hard and leaned close so there were only a couple inches between us._

_"He is dead, Rose! We can't go back in there. The sun will be down in fifteen minutes, and they are waiting for us. We're going to be in the dark before we can get back to the wards. We need every second we can get - it still may not be enough."_

_And despite the panic I could see in my mother's eyes - panic over losing me, her daughter - I just couldn't bear to leave Dimitri back there. Leaving him would mean leaving part of my soul, and if he was dead, then surely I would die too._

_"Okay," I murmured. She stared into my eyes a bit longer, I assumed to make sure I really understood, before nodding and finally letting go. And then I was off._

_I ran so fast, not even Stan could catch me. I ran, back towards the entrance to the cave, back towards Dimitri. I would _not_ let him die._

_As soon as I reached the entrance, ten Strigoi were on me. I was a blur of motion, striking out with my stake every chance I got, passion and adrenaline pushing me on, urging me to hurry, to find Dimitri. I could hear my mother screaming my name, far behind me, but I knew the others wouldn't let her come back for me. I was on my own._

_I took down half the Strigoi, my need to see Dimitri making me forget about the others and just _run_. Not even they could keep up with me._

_And then I saw him._

_He was on top of the blonde Strigoi now, blood running down his neck, obviously having gained the upper hand finally. My heart clenched in my chest. I had to see his eyes. Then I would know he was okay. . . . That he hadn't become one of _them_._

_Dimitri, ever-alert despite being distracted, noticed me. And when his _brown_ eyes met mine, I knew he was still there._

_My heart started up double-time, and I lept into the fray, not even thinking. Dimitri had apparently managed to wrench the Strigoi from off of him and rolled them over, but he was struggling from the rapid loss of blood. He was getting weaker._

_I was panicked. I didn't know where to jump in. Every time I thought I had a clear shot at the Strigoi's heart, something would happen, causing Dimitri to move into my way seconds before my stake came down, making me fumble. I couldn't stake _him_, but at the same time they were making it damned hard for me to stake the Strigoi._

_Dimitri sensed this, and as the Strigoi made a dive towards his neck again, he ducked his head out of the way, collapsing his weight onto the Strigoi. He pinned his arms down, moving his head out of the Strigoi's reach. And amidst it all, the Strigoi's chest was left wide open. My opening._

_"Now, Roza!" Dimitri shouted._

_I didn't hesitate, immediately jumping in and bringing the stake down on the Strigoi's chest. He screamed and thrashed about in agony, hissing and baring his fangs. I had missed his heart._

_"Again!" Dimitri shouted, casting an anxious glance behind us. The Strigoi I had outrun weren't far, and we were roughly ten minuted from the sun disappearing completely. We weren't going to make it back to the wards in time, no matter how fast we ran._

_I removed the stake and brought it down over the Strigoi's heart again, using more strength. The Strigoi screamed again, and the sound was garbled and liquid-filled. Blood._

_It was evident that I missed my mark again, though. Before I could stake the Strigoi a third time, Dimitri grabbed me, pulling me off of the Strigoi._

_"We don't have time! Come on!"_

_We took off, leaving the stake lodged in the Strigoi's chest._

We had just barely escaped the Strigoi that ran after us. It had been dark for almost five minutes by the time we made it back behind the wards. God only knew how_ lucky _we were. In fact, after that I knew that maybe, _just maybe_, there had to be some greater force out there working miracles, because the odds against us were just too great to comprehend. Thousands of things could've happened to us on the way back, not to mention that we were slowed down because of Dimitri. But we had made it. Alive. Both of us.

Halfway across the campus, I locked eyes with Dimitri. He had just finished staking his Strigoi, and from the look in his eyes I knew he saw me stake mine. And there was no doubt he recognized him either.

He nodded, eyes blazing with pure pride for my accomplishment, and in that nod I read everything he couldn't say at this time: _"Well done, Roza. I'm so, _so_ proud of you."_

I would have loved to be able to stand there and bask in the warm feeling his pride always brought me, but there were greater matters at hand.

I turned and faced the rest of the campus as I prepared myself for bloodshed.

* * *

**The long wait for this chapter is finally over.** So, what'd ya think? I promised you I'd give you action **:)** Hope too many of you guys didn't give up on me. I'll try and post the next chapter as soon as I can, but I don't know how long this story will last before I move into the sequel. I'm thinking it might be longer than intended... Please leave a review **:)** Love ya all!**  
_xoxo,_  
**RyRy


	15. Stake That

**Hey all, Ryan here :) **Much thanks to your reviews! I read every one of 'em! Love ya.

* * *

"Rose, I'll take the elementary campus, you go and grab Christian and get the dorms."

My mouth fell open. "_Christian? _You're really willing to let me risk a Moroi's life fighting Strigoi?"

Dimitri grimaced. "I don't think I have any other choice. You two proved how well you worked together the last time the school was under attack. I might as well let you two go at it before he finds you on his own, or vice versa. Just be careful, Roza."

I grinned at him. "Thanks, comrade!" Then I ran off to find Christian.

It didn't take long. He was running out of the Moroi dorm, and his eyes lit up when he saw me. I smiled at him, elated that we would be allowed to unleash ourselves upon the Strigoi without getting in trouble this time.

"Hey Rose, you willing to team up and take down some more blood-sucking monsters with me?"

"You're stupider than I thought if you have to ask," I laughed. "Where's Lissa?"

"She's in her room. Some guardians are keeping a close eye on her since she's the last of her line and the Strigoi would love the chance to eliminate her. They know that she'd be one of their targets."

I shivered a little, knowing he was right. I really hoped she wouldn't use compulsion on them and escape. But I also knew she wouldn't be able to compel every guardian in the building, since she was on the fifth floor and there were tons of guardians in-between her room and the lobby.

We didn't have to wait long to find trouble. Under the shade of the trees behind the dormitories, we watched four Strigoi creep around the dorms, looking for the quickest way in without being taken down. Christian and I were being extra careful, so they didn't see or hear us as we stepped out from the trees and followed them inside.

They were heading up the stairwell on the left side of the lobby. I held Christian back for an extra second to go over our plan. I would follow the Strigoi and make a dramatic scene, crying hysterically as I entered as though running from a Strigoi. Once their backs were turned from the door, Christian would enter and use the distracting spell Tasha had taught him to turn the ones that I couldn't get to away from me. This way, I wouldn't have to take them all at once, and Christian wouldn't burn himself out from trying to burn them completely.

He nodded, silently telling me he understood, and I took a moment to de-compose myself. I thought of the one thing that could make me sob: losing Dimitri and Lissa. I imagined the most horrible scenarios possible, wincing from the emotions they brought out in me, not exactly liking what my mind was conjuring up but knowing it was necessary. Christian looked like he wanted to ask what was wrong several times, but I knew he knew I was only torturing myself to bring out tears. Once I felt my eyes start to moisten, I turned my head away, not wanting Christian to see my cry no matter how much of an act it was.

"Okay," I said quietly. "I'm ready." I took a deep shuddering breath before entering the stairwell, full-out sobbing. I ran up the stairs, making as much noise as I could. Peeking around a little enabled me to see that the Strigoi were all just a few steps from the door to the second floor; the stairwell had a _lot_ of stairs to slow down any intruders.

They came faster than I expected, despite the distance between us.

"Well, well, well; look what we have here," one of them said. There were three males and one female. The blond male with green eyes had spoken.

I stopped abruptly, pretending to be frozen in place from fear and shock. I began trembling, as if I would start crying again. My eyes grew wide, and the hand that wasn't holding the railing brushed against my leg, the stake that I could feel there giving me comfort and reassurance.

"She's faking, Eli," the girl said flatly. She was tall, lean, and pretty. If it wasn't for the fact that she was an undead monster, I'd be jealous of her. Especially her long blonde curls. She must've been either Moroi or human when she turned.

"_Damn,_" I thought. "_If Christian doesn't hurry the hell up, I'll be in deep shit._" I couldn't take them all at once. My limit so far was two Strigoi at a time.

"I know," Eli murmured. "I just thought I would entertain the notion. This one fascinates me." The other two males stood staring at us, a blank, bored expression on their faces.

Eli reached his hand out, about to touch my neck. I was about to whip my stake out and finish his ass, but before I could, an agonized scream escaped his lips as I was blinded by a searing-hot light.

Christian.

I seized the opportunity given and unsheathed my stake from my jeans pocket, shoving it into his chest. He growled at me and lashed out despite the flames, aiming for my head. I ducked, and took the chance to shove my stake in deeper before removing it completely and jumping back before I could get burned.

Christian turned up the heat, reducing him to a pile of ashes before my eyes. That was when I noticed that he had already finished off the blonde female.

As I began to take one of the two males that were left, I saw Christian ready himself for another spell to burn the Strigoi trying to get around me to get to him. "Christian!" I yelled, ducking as the redhead I was fighting aimed for my face. We were both neither landing blows nor recieving them. "Use the distracting spell! You're using too much magic!"

Christian grunted, obviously not happy that he couldn't burn the Strigoi completely. His distracting spell wasn't perfected yet and required more concentration, which was why he preferred the easy consuming spell. But he listened, as I saw a burst of fire whip past the other Strigoi's face. Both Strigoi's were distracted by it, though, giving me the chance to stake the one I was fighting. As soon as I was done, the other Strigoi was already on the move again towards Christian. Before he could get another spell ready, though, I kicked the Strigoi's legs from under him. He slipped, grabbing onto the railing with amazing speed before he could fall. He got back up and quickly turned towards me, hissing.

I aimed a kick for his chest, but before I could pull my leg back, the Strigoi grabbed my ankle and flung me down the stairs, sending me flying over Christian's head and crashing into the wall.

I was up almost immediately, sprinting back up the stairs to the Strigoi, stake out and ready. At the last minute, I feinted right, avoiding his grab and continuing up the stairs behind him. Before he could turn, I kicked his back as hard as I could, sending him sliding down the stairs. But again, he caught the railing. Not that it mattered. Christian was already using another spell, setting the Strigoi completely on fire.

I almost glared at him again before I realized that despite the Strigoi being engulfed in flames, he wasn't burning. Christian had used the distracting spell after all. The Strigoi didn't seem to notice anything but the flames, though. I took the opportunity to stake him while he screamed and thrashed about.

When I finished, I grinned and walked over to Christian, giving him a high-five. "Damn, Christian, you took so long to get here that I almost blew the plan and whipped out my stake, and we both know how well _that_ might've turned out."

He laughed. "Sorry, Rose, but I was having fun listening to you guys."

I smirked. "Whatever. Next time, I'm making you go in first, then we'll see who has more fun playing with the Strigoi."

We continued to the dorms, running from level to level, taking down a few Strigoi here and there. The guardians had a lot covered. Things were running smoothly, even more so than last time, which I didn't even think possible.

And then we came to Lissa's floor. I wasn't worried in the least bit, considering how many guardians (both school guardians and the newly graduated ones) were crawling around the dorms. Not only that, but it appeared that Christian wasn't the only Moroi using magic to fight the Strigoi. After the last attack on the school, a lot of the guardians realized that as long as the magic was being used for defensive purposes instead of offensive, it would be okay for a few of them to help protect the school. Christian liked to think of himself as a pioneer of sorts. I didn't point out that the Moroi that _did _know how to use magic for offense _was. _I figured it was better for everyone anyways.

Sadly, Christian and I didn't kill nearly as many Strigoi as last time because of how many other dhampirs were in the dorms. It almost got boring.

"Hey Rose," Christian huffed as he stepped around the pile of ashes he had just turned a Strigoi into. He wasn't nearly tired enough to quit yet, but the exertion of all his magic was beginning to take a physical toll on him.

"Yeah?" I asked. I wasn't anywhere close to being winded, but then again I was used to training that was much more tiring than killing Strigoi. Like running twenty laps with Dimitri and sparring for the next two and a half hours for example. . . . Christian's use of magic was making me lazy and sloppy.

"How about we go outside and try and get any Strigoi hiding around the school's borders? You know the guardians here can hold up without us."

I hesitated for a fraction of a second before answering. He was right. We weren't needed here, and outside might provide more action for us than in here. "Alright, I'm in. Lead the way, Pyro!"

He grinned, breathing returning to normal. We set out, practically flying down the stairs with the excitement of what was to come.

We made it outside in no time, and I followed Christian past the dorms and to the boundaries of the school. We ended up back into the forests, but we went farther beyond the entrance and into the very depths of it, surprisingly close to the wards line, which was probably nonexistent at this point. We could see some more guardians in the far distance, but they didn't seem to know we were there.

"Okay, keep your eyes peeled for anything. Yell if you see one," I commanded. Christian nodded.

I turned away and walked off on my own, doing a bit of exploring for myself. I knew Christian could handle a Strigoi if one showed up, and plus, he knew I'd be right there to help him if he was in any trouble whatsoever. He wasn't my charge, but I loved him like a brother, and I wouldn't let anything happen to him.

But that didn't seem to even matter, considering I didn't even notice Christian struggling to fend off the four Strigoi that seemed to appear out of nowhere. Some guardian I was turning out to be.

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**Ooh, a cliff-hanger. **Sorry guys, it's late and I'm totally out of ideas haha. Much love to all!  
**xoxo,  
**Ryan


	16. Betrayal

**I made this chapter longer than the last one, like promised. **Your reviews are absolutely fantabulous guys! Keep 'em rollin'!

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The only thing that alerted me to Christian's distress was the smell of rotting flesh.

I knew Christian would only be using his magic if it was for one of two things: He was heating some food, or he was burning someone's ass. And the first one really wasn't an option right now.

I immediately sprinted back in his direction. In the back of my mind, I realized that I in fact _had_ been far away from where Christian was. Although it wasn't entirely my fault. Christian had done a bit of wandering himself. But that wasn't the point now.

Christian was, like I knew he would be, handling his own very well. But I had to help him out.

I jumped on the nearest Strigoi's back, hooked my arm around his neck, grabbed my wrist with my free hand and pulled, executing a chokehold.

The Strigoi bucked and began to spin around in circles viciously, trying to throw me off. But I kept my grip.

When he saw that it wasn't working, he substituted and body-slammed himself, and me since I was still on his back, to the ground.

I'm not going to lie - it hurt like hell. But it didn't hurt nearly enough to make me let go.

Before he could jump up, I wrapped my legs around his waist, holding him down and pulling. When I had him secured, I pulled my torso out from under him, switching myself to a position where I was on my side facing his body, with my legs still hooked around his waist and my arm around his neck.

He growled, face close to my ear, and in one quick motion he rolled us over. His amount of exertion ended rolling us over several times though. I used this to my advantage, absorbing his energy by pulling his body tighter to mine and using my energy as well to roll us over. I knew it would put me on top.

It worked. We ended up with me straddling his hips once again. I was sitting on his stomach, hands on his shoulders, legs pressing down on his. I had exactly one second to stake him before he jumped out from under me.

I used that second.

Grabbing my stake from my back pocket, I thrust it into his chest, making sure I nailed his heart. Almost instantly, he died.

I got up and looked around me, ready to grab another Strigoi to stake. But I was surprised when I found that the Strigoi had all disappeared.

And so had Christian.

My mind could form only one comprehensible thought: _Shit!_

I ran as fast as my legs could carry me to the elementary dorm, praying Dimitri would still be there, and thanking my lucky stars when he came into my field of vision.

I called out to him, still a good distance away but knowing he would hear me.

He did, and he turned around. When he saw me running, he ran too, meeting me halfway. "What's wrong?" he asked, grabbing me by the forearms and looking me directly in the eyes, searching for danger there.

"Christian," I panted. "He's gone. We were ambushed by Strigoi, and while I was fighting one they all disappeared and took him with them. Dimitri, we have to go after them! We can't leave him to die."

I lost Dimitri the moment I said "Christian". I shouldn't have even bothered to continue. I could practically see the wheels turning in his head, and I knew he was already thinking of a plan to present to the other guardians to get him back.

The last time the school was attacked, no one wanted to risk a rescue trip to save the students and guardians that had been taken. The odds of actually finding the Strigoi hideout were too low.

But I knew that the ghosts could help me.

Yeah, they were dead, and yeah, they used to scare the shit out of me, but they were a useful resource. They hated Strigoi, and therefore would bring me right to them. Mason (or rather, his ghost) had pointed to a spot on a map that I had presented to him where he knew the Strigoi were hiding. After telling Dimitri, he told the other guardians. My mom (big surprise) had convinced the guardians to lead the search party. And then (even bigger surprise), she also convinced Kirova to bring a few novices along. It was badass.

We recovered everyone. But I almost lost Dimitri in the process. It was horrible, and something I'll remember for the rest of my life. I thought he'd never live, and he'd lost so much blood. . . . But he'd lived.

I knew it would be tough to try to do another recovery when the school would think of it as unnecessary and dangerous since it was "only" one Moroi. But Dimitri was on my side. And if we had to replenish the numbers of guardians because too many were unable to fight, my mom would for sure be called in, and she'd help too. And I would run through the ninth circle of hell if that was what it would take to get Christian back safe and sound. We were jerks to each other sometimes, but when shit went down I would be there for him, and I knew he would do the same for me. He was the brother I never had, and frankly never wanted, but I would be willing to put my entire life in death's hands before I let someone harm him, Lissa, or Dimitri. They were _mine_, and if anyone was going to terrorize them it would be me.

"Okay," Dimitri said, finished thinking. "I'll talk to Alberta about going after him, but first we have to tackle the situation at hand. The Strigoi are beginning to retreat because of the sun. We've killed off a very large number of them, and as soon as we're done the wards will be back up. In the meantime though, Rose, I want you to _stay away_."

I had been nodding along with everything he had been saying, in complete agreement and understanding - until now.

I gaped. "I'm sorry, _what_?" No. There was no way I could've heard him right.

His eyes hardened. "You heard me, Rose."

Oh no. He was _not_ about to do this to me. I sucked in air, about to tell him where he could shove that. Dimitri _knew_ I wouldn't go crawl and hide away in a corner when the school was under attack like this. He _knew_ I would be right there the whole time, by his side, fighting until the end.

"Roza!" Dimitri grabbed me by the shoulders and shook me, halting me from saying anything. I had a feeling he knew what was coming anyways. He gazed fervently into my eyes, willing me to understand, to hear him out. "Listen to me! You're the only way we can find out where the Strigoi's hideout is. If we lose you, we fail and Christian dies." His guardian façade suddenly crumbled before my very eyes as he said the next part, passion filling his gaze and voice. "If _I_ lose you, _I_ die. Because I wouldn't be able to live with myself knowing that I didn't protect you. Please, Roza. Please promise me you'll keep yourself safe and _stay away from this fight_. For me?"

I pressed my lips together, trying my best to calm down before saying something I regretted. I was mentally panicking inside. I couldn't believe this, I couldn't believe he wouldn't let me fight. I was a mess of emotions: anger, frustration, panic, confusion, rage, fear, anxiety, horror. But as I looked back up into Dimitri's eyes, I finally understood.

I couldn't bear it when I had saw Dimitri dying before my very eyes back in the caves during the last attack. Not knowing whether he would live or not killed me. I went through hell that night. And I was not about to put him through the same thing.

"Okay," I whispered, looking at the ground. He had a point. Only I could tell them where the Strigoi was. I had a shadow-kissed connection to the dead, and they would be sure to lead me right to them. "I'll stay away. But please, Dimitri, never ask me to do this again. I wouldn't be able to do it."

Dimitri nodded, pulling me in to him for a hug. I felt his breath on my hair, inhaling my scent. I knew this meant a lot to him.

But I just hoped he would be able to forgive me when I went behind his back.

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**How'd you like it? **Let me know, leave a review!** :) **Oh, and sorry bout the cliff-hanger... I got a bad habit of puttin' those in, huh? Haha  
**xoxo,  
**Ryan


	17. Spirit Guides

**Ohmygod, I can't believe I'm updating. **I feel so horrible after that long "break" I took. I don't even expect for anyone to waste their time reading this after knowing how slowly I update, and then I just neglect my story altogether. I know I'm a bad person. But I'm also masochistic, so I'm taking a chance with updating. I don't even know why I bother - Spirit Bound is out.

**I actually keep thinking** I should just discontinue this story altogether and start something new, with more "fluff" than "plot". Something fun to amuse people with while we wait for Last Sacrifice. I'm much more skilled at fluff and humor haha, I suck at this action stuff. Let me know what you guys think. And if you agree with me that I should discontinue and write fluffy-goodness, PLEASE, don't be afraid to say so **:)**

**Please accept this crappy chapter** as either a last chapter before I discontinue this story altogether, or a sucky chapter before another, MUCH BETTER, one.

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There was no way I could possibly wait to save Christian.

The Strigoi were already probably having him for a snack. I had no time to waste.

After leaving Dimitri, I headed for my dorm. I knew he'd be watching me to make sure I was inside. I also knew he would come looking for me eventually, which is why I went up to my room, turned the shower on in the bathroom, and locked the door behind me. If he used a key to open my door and heard the shower running, I knew he'd just leave quietly and come back in an hour or two, which gave me just enough time to hunt down Christian.

Once everything was set up, I grabbed a jacket, some better shoes, my stake, and climbed out my window. It was a long drop, but it didn't matter because for one, I was on a mission, and two, I had done it millions of times before. A scrape here, a cut there, no big deal.

I knew the wards still weren't up yet, as every guardian on campus was either outside fighting or inside guarding dorms and Moroi, so that made it easy for me to summon up the ghosts without being seen. And by the normal feeling in my stomach, I knew there weren't any Strigoi around me either.

It didn't take long for me to be bombarded with ghosts.

I immediately gripped my head in my hands, grimacing from the pressure inside my skull. It hurt like a bitch.

Eventually deciding I would stop acting like a baby and tough it out, I opened my eyes, pinning my arms to my side to keep from grabbing my head again. Before me swarmed dozens, maybe more, of ghosts, all fighting for my attention.

I tried to avoid looking at any too closely. One time, when me, Lissa, and some other students were returning from Court, I was bombarded by ghosts as soon as the plane touched ground at an airport where we were planning to refuel. I had had similar effects to the ones I was having now, only much, much worse. And I had also saw Lissa's family among the ghosts.

It scared the shit out of me, mostly because Andre, Lissa's brother, had pointed at this large black shadow behind him - the entrance to the world of death - and then pointed at me, clearly saying that I should be back there with them. Not living.

So I wasn't about to go looking for them. It was too much, seeing Lissa's family, which had become so much like my own before they all died.

But I _was_ looking for someone to tell me where Christian was. I wasn't expecting much help, considering I didn't know any of these ghosts here and I had never asked for their help before, but since they hate Strigoi I had been counting on them at least leading me to them.

"Hi, um . . . I was wondering if any of you guys could lead me to my friend, Christian Ozera. . . .?"

For a moment, the ghosts just stood - or, well, hovered - there. Then, almost simultaneously, they pointed off into the distance. I followed their fingers, noticing that it led off into a patch of forest beyond us.

I snorted. "Really? Can't you guys do better than that? Pointing off into a forest could mean they're anywhere, and I'm not about to scrounge an entire forest. It would be a waste of time and he might very well be dead by the time I find him."

The ghosts seemed to understand. But I almost couldn't believe my eyes when I saw them start to move over to where they pointed. My God, they were actually _leading_ me to Christian! I couldn't have come across a bigger stroke of luck.

I raced along to follow them. They were surprisingly fast for the dead. Eventually, they led me far enough into the forest where there was a small clearing and a grouping of caves off to the side. To me, this walk was no problem. But I knew that to a human, it would be tiring and they would have long-ago stopped for a break. I also knew that it was close to midnight in vampire-time, which meant it was around eleven in the morning for humans. And I knew this sunlight plus the lack of shading must've been kicking the Strigoi's asses on their way to their little hideout. Add on the fact that they had been out in the sun for quite some time and you get a cave full of weak Strigoi out of the equation. Unless, of course, they had already snacked on Christian.

I shoved that thought away as my anger spiked. They would all be sorry they ever took him. I was going to make sure of that.

I stopped a few feet from the cave's entrance. I knew these ghosts would be more than happy to help kick some Strigoi butt, but I wasn't sure I wanted to expose my secret weapon just yet. So, after thanking the spirits for their help, I closed my eyes and banished them. Trust me; it wasn't easy.

Once I was done, I entered the caves. I'd be damned before I let Christian die tonight.

I was sure to enter cautiously, remembering with a pang of grief what had almost happened to Dimitri the last time we went on a rescue mission. The Strigoi had hid out in caves similar to the ones I was in right now. I wasn't about to put Dimitri through what I went through. I would come back safe and sound, with Christian in tow.

I knew there had to be at least three Strigoi in there, which was nothing. I'd have Christian out in five minutes flat. But I also knew it'd be stupid for me to expect no more than three, because expectations would mean I wouldn't be prepared for anything that went beyond that.

The cave branched off into three long tunnels, none of which were well lit. I took the one farthest to the left, deciding I would stick to that direction for a while.

As it turned out, I didn't have far to go. The tunnel led to a dead-end.

"Shit," I swore. I mentally prayed to whoever was listening that a group of Strigoi didn't hear my entrance and was waiting for me. It would be mighty hard for me to fight off more than two Strigoi in a space as enclosed as the one I was in.

I was grateful when I found no one.

I decided to take the middle tunnel next. I was too afraid that the tunnel to the right was another dead-end, and I wasn't about to take the gamble of not having any Strigoi trap me again. It turned out that the middle tunnel was the jackpot. After just a few steps in, I heard voices.

Show-time.

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**Again, I know this sucked. **And I'll even admit that I didn't put my all into it. And yes, I realize it's disappointingly short and didn't contribute much to the excitement. It was really just a filler chapter - something to fill the emptiness that came from me not updating. But if enough of you guys vote for me to continue this story, then I promise the next will be better. So whatever your opinion, lemme hear it - whether that be by review or P.M. **(:**  
**xoxo,  
**RyRy


	18. Torture

**I decided to continue this story :) **Okay, thats a lie: my REVIEWERS decided to continue this story haha. 13 out of 13 reviews said to continue, and I just thought that was so fricken awesome. So I uploaded a new chapter, made it longer, and used a lot of action. I hope you like **:) **Love ya guys!

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I crept down the long, twisting expanse of the tunnel, gripping my stake firmly in my hand. At the end, I could see that it branched off into two directions. I couldn't tell how far the left tunnel was because of the thick black darkness. The right, on the other hand, was brightly lit. It was obvious which one the Strigoi were in.

I distantly thought of how much easier it would've been to have to rescue Lissa. At least I'd be able to get a view on what things looked like in that cave from her mind. But I needed to learn how to protect people I didn't have a bond with. I had heard guardians mention before that Lissa was my handicap. I had needed to learn how to save someone when I couldn't instantly sense that they were in danger or slip into their head.

I listened for a moment, trying to get a grasp on how many Strigoi (or possibly humans) could be in that room. I heard low murmuring, someone talking. But I could only hear one voice.

My guess, based on when my friends and I had also been captured and taken by Strigoi in Spokane, was that there were either at least three Strigoi in that room, or two humans and one Strigoi.

As much as I wanted to just burst in there and slay everything in my path, I knew that Dimitri would've disapproved. So my best bet was to just wait and see if a Strigoi walked out. If it did, then it would mean it was the leader and it left Christian with a couple of guards. If it didn't, it would mean there could be more Strigoi in that cave than I could take down without running the risk of getting both Christian and I killed.

I pressed myself against the wall, keeping my distance from the cave and hiding in a dark depression in the cave's wall, just in case the Strigoi smelled me. I breathed through my nose, trying to make myself as invisible as possible. I would at least have the element of surprise.

My patience was rewarded. After a couple of minutes, I heard the voice grow quiet. I waited a little longer, and then the sound of footsteps drifted to my ears. Someone was walking this way.

I watched the floor of the cave for a shadow. As soon as one appeared, I leaped out, immediately reaching for the wrist of my opponent. I tugged them toward me, following up with a blow to the head.

Before they could react, I kneed them in the groin. The person groaned hard before dropping to their knees. I had my stake out in a flash, pinning them down with my elbow against their neck, blocking off air, and my stake poised on their chest.

When the guy opened his eyes, I saw that it wasn't a Strigoi, but a human. Since I could take care of him without having to stake him, I grabbed him by the shirt collar to a sitting position before quickly using the butt of my stake to strike him in the head, efficiently knocking him out cold.

I dragged his limp form off to a farther part of the cave, not wanting his body to interfere if I had to fight anyone else coming out of the cave. As soon as I was back in my little cubby, I frowned. If the voice I heard speaking to Christian was the human. . . . Well, _why_ would he be speaking to Christian? Why would he be the one threatening him? That would usually be the Strigoi's job-

I didn't have the element of surprise this time.

The Strigoi I had been waiting for earlier promptly snatched me and flung me against the opposite wall before I even knew what was happening. I felt pain stab through the back of my head and tasted blood in my mouth where my tooth met my lip. But I hopped back up nonetheless, ready for whatever he threw at me.

The Strigoi grinned maliciously. He was bald, but paired with the pale skin and red eyes, he looked that much more scary.

This wouldn't be an easy fight between the limited space and the extra foot of height he had on me. But I would at least be able to dodge his attacks and recover from blows more quickly than him.

I realized that the human had merely been a distraction, sent out to investigate the caves for threats while the Strigoi stayed behind and listened for sounds of a struggle. Between the human's grunting and the sound of me dragging his body away from the entrance, I knew the Strigoi had heard me. Damn. I was being so careless lately.

I lunged for him, reaching for his waist to tackle him. He saw my aim and stepped back, using his elbow to knock me in the jaw. I grimaced, but kept going for the offense.

After a while, I think the Strigoi got tired of defense. Snarling, he struck a punch to my gut. I stepped out of reach, bracing my left arm against his neck to fend him off and using my other arm to reach under his pit. While holding his arm and shoulder in an elbow-grasp, I kneed him where it hurt with as much strength as I could manage. Once he doubled over, I used my knee to hoist him up while I used my hold on him to flip him onto his back. I let go of his weight, letting him fall to the cold ground unsupported.

My stake was on his heart in an instant, my hand holding his neck to the floor. I straddled his waist, trying my hardest to throw my weight across his torso to keep him down while he thrashed. This Strigoi wasn't as strong as others I had encountered, meaning he was newly-turned. I knew he could easily get up from this, so I took my stake and drew a long gash in his throat, ripping it open. He screamed in pain, shouting out swears.

"Who are you?" I murmured in a low, dangerous tone, still not wanting an army of Strigoi to descend upon me before I could get answers out of this one.

He hissed at me, baring his fangs. I took my stake and widened the gash in his throat, then held it on his chest, applying pressure; a silent threat.

He paused in his struggle, but quickly resumed. "Let me go," he growled.

"Not until I get answers."

He sneered, and I could detect a faint accent in his words. "What does it matter? Won't you just kill me anyways?"

"You're right. But it's your choice whether it's slowly or quickly." To make my point clear, I made gashes and cuts in his body that would've killed any Moroi, dhampir, or human.

He swore a few times again, then said, "Okay! What do you want?"

I smiled. "Tell me how many Strigoi are in the room you just came out of."

"About two or three, and a Moroi."

So Christian was in there. Of course, I had no way of knowing for sure whether the Strigoi was telling the truth or not, unless I went in there. But I could take two or three Strigoi, and I know Christian could burn himself out of whatever bonds he was in and help me once he was sure I was here.

Satisfied with the Strigoi's help, I finished him off. I didn't bother using any more torture. I just struck his heart.

I sighed, getting up. I wasn't doubting that Christian and I could make it out of here alive, but I just couldn't help but wonder why every time my friends got themselves into some shit, I always had to play hero.

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**Next chapter will be up as soon as I can find time :) **Guess who just got a boyfriend! Not one of my characters, silly. ME!** (; **Hahaha, love you guys!  
**xoxo,  
**Ryan


	19. Rescue Mission

**Oh my gosh, **I just saw the "Twilight Saga: Eclipse" premiere a couple nights ago, and not only was the movie totally kick-ass, but guess what? I saw the OFFICIAL Vampire Academy book promotion trailer as one of the previews they show before the movie. I was freaking out! It was so cool!

**I'll post the link on my page to watch it** (it's not one of those fan-made ones, this is actually THE official trailer) Don't get your hopes up though: it's NOT a movie trailer. The only thing I was disappointed about, though, was the people they chose to portray Dimitri, Rose, and Lissa. They just honestly didn't fit the description for me. But oh well, it was still really good** (:**

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Call it cocky, but I was feeling pretty confident in my abilities. I had a battle tattoo and two _molnija_ marks, and I'd have a few more when the battle at the school was over. I could take these Strigoi, even if there were a few more than what the Strigoi I had run into told me about.

I walked back towards the lit-up cave entrance. I knew it was dumb to not have backup with me, but the guardians were all preoccupied, I didn't want to put Dimitri's life in danger again (and besides, he would've taken too long), and there was no way in hell I would let Lissa anywhere near this situation. So I was alone.

Taking a deep breath, I walked through the entrance, stake in hand.

"_Shit_," was the first thing that came to mind.

The Strigoi I had staked lied to me. There weren't three Strigoi in the room. There were six, half of which were almost a foot taller than me. Five men and one woman.

They all turned towards me at the same time. "Joel!" I heard one scream, and I had almost no time to react as the one nearest to the door made a grab for me. Must've been Joel.

I just barely dodged his arm, striking out at his chest with my stake. I missed, not even grazing his leather jacket, and I tried to quickly balance myself as his blow to my left shoulder made me stumble.

Christian was in the center of the room, tied to a chair and gagged. His hands were restrained in handcuffs, which was why he couldn't have burned them off. He began thrashing about when he saw me, screaming words that were muffled by the scarf tied around his mouth. When I saw that his nose was bleeding and turning purple, my anger kindled. The darkness pumped through me.

I kept fighting. I knew he would've burned off his restraints, but damn them, the Strigoi had used handcuffs. Christian's fire couldn't burn through metal easily, and besides, he'd end up burning himself anyways.

Christian's screams grew louder, and I knew without looking back that the other Strigoi were closing in on me. I lashed out with my stake in an uppercut, leaving a tear in his jacket and burning the Strigoi's chest. He cried out in surprise, looking down. That was all the distraction I needed to drive the stake through his heart.

When he was down, I whirled around just in time to face three of the other Strigoi, right on my heels. The last two were watching Christian, making sure he didn't try anything. I mentally swore. I wasn't feeling so cocky anymore. I was pretty sure that there was a good chance I would die tonight.

But instead of getting distracted and losing focus, the thought made me fight harder, going for more than one Strigoi at a time. I was a whirlwind of motion. I lunged for the Strigoi on my left, but struck out with my stake at the Strigoi in the middle. The one on my left saw my charge and sidestepped it, but the one in the middle didn't see me coming. My stake cut her arm, leaving a long gash that dripped blood.

She grabbed me by the hair, snarling in rage. I screamed, momentarily startled. "You bitch," she growled in my ear before flinging me at the wall. It would've been nice if she'd flung me and let go, making her next move. But no. She flung me _repeatedly_, screaming a different obscenity every time. They began to get creative. I figured it wouldn't be long before my entire scalp was ripped off.

I lowered my head as I flew towards the wall, making sure my head got the least amount of impact. When she went to throw me a fifth time, I tucked my legs under me so that my feet would be against the wall when I hit it. I pressed against the wall, hard, using the energy that propelled me forward to aim for her neck.

She didn't see it coming, so both my weight and her surprise was enough for me to bring her down like a log. I used the moment I had to stake her quickly. Bitch. She may have been the only woman, but she had enough PMS issues to go around for everyone.

Before I could get up and go for another Strigoi, I was grabbed. One of the Strigoi had snuck up behind me while I was withdrawing my stake from the Bitch Strigoi, pulling me off of her and pinning me to the wall. His hand wrapped around my throat, slowly lifting me off the ground as he hissed at me. I clawed uselessly at his hand, trying to get free as my oxygen was cut off. I kicked violently, but I never landed anything. I heard my stake fall to the ground.

"You think you're something, don't you? Storming in here all alone like you could really take us all on. _Child_," he sneered, leaning in closer.

I gasped, trying my hardest to breathe. I didn't know how I was going to get out of this. I really would die. Christian would too.

But God, I hoped not. I hoped Christian could at least find a way to get out of this, even if he had to leave me behind. At least he would be safe, and he could go get help.

And then, a thought occurred to me. I hadn't heard Christian say a word for a while, which would've been a nice change if we weren't surrounded in a room with Strigoi.

I tried to look around quickly. It wouldn't be long before I either fainted or he snapped my neck.

And then my eyes caught the most glorious sight in the world.

Christian was out of his restraints.

Well, not technically out of them. His hands were still handcuffed behind his back, but he had burned through the wood of the chair. He was able to burn the other three Strigoi so quickly that I hadn't even noticed. His gag hung around his neck, and he shot me a grin.

My eyes flickered back to the Strigoi in front of me. I didn't want him to know Christian was free. I could feel myself getting lightheaded, though, and I knew I'd be unconscious soon.

"I can make you suffer so terribly that you'll wish you were never born," the Strigoi continued, never noticing my distraction. "That's what we do to little dhampirs that think they can go and play vigilante. And that's why those dhampirs _die_."

I really wished he would just do something, besides choke me. This guy reminded me of Isaiah: talked their victim's ear off until the victim was practically willing to die anyways.

I could faintly see Christian slowly getting closer to the Strigoi. He didn't look at me, too focused on his objective.

I tried to catch his eye covertly, mentally screaming at him, _"Stop! You idiot! You're going to get killed!" _If the Strigoi noticed Christian before he could light him up, then Christian would die, and I wouldn't be any help considering I was due to faint any time now.

The force of my kicks suddenly got more frantic as I felt myself approaching the brink of "sleep". I grunted as I used my nails to tear at the Strigoi's hand. He laughed, a low, thunderous sound that carried across the room. His grip on my throat tightened.

"You'll never win! Stupid girl, don't you know that by now? I'm so much _stronger_ than you!"

Christian was right behind him now. He turned around, readying himself for a spell to set the Strigoi ablaze. I wanted to throw something at him. He would get us all killed! As soon as Christian lit him up, the Strigoi would go up in flames instantly, and I seriously doubted that I would be dropped fast enough to not get burned.

I didn't have to worry about that, though. Right before Christian could make a ball of fire appear in his hands, the Strigoi whipped around, still holding me by the neck. My feet touched the ground, and his grip was noticeably lighter. I breathed in quickly, taking advantage of the air before he tightened his hand again.

"Stop!" the Strigoi shouted as a blue ball swirled around in Christian's palm. He swung me forward, still keeping his hold on my neck as he held my body against his chest. I was put in a position where I was facing Christian's back. "Turn around, or the girl dies!"

Christian slowly turned toward us, his face hard as the flames disappeared from his hand. The hand that the Strigoi used to grip my neck traveled down my body to wrap around my waist, his other hand cupping my chin. I wanted to gag.

"Good boy," he grinned. "Now why don't you sit back down?"

"Why don't you make me?" Christian snarled. Dear Lord, his snarky attitude wasn't helping matters.

"Do you really want to see your friend's neck get snapped? It won't be a pretty sight, believe me."

Christian relented then, sitting down on the floor, expression more fierce than before. But when his eyes met mine, his expression melted into a mix of helplessness and sadness. What was even more shocking was that the strongest, most prominent emotion was terror. He was scared out of his mind that I would die.

I smiled a little, a small, sad one, conveying to him that I would be alright, even if I didn't exactly believe it myself. I had to be strong.

"Excellent!" the Strigoi crowed. "See? We can all be _friends_ here."

I wanted to snort, but I knew I would pay for it, so I kept quiet. I was grateful that I could at least breathe now, so I wasn't about to do anything to lose the privilege.

"Your friend's neck is so soft," the Strigoi suddenly murmured, nuzzling my neck with his nose. "Mm, and her blood smells divine. I can hear her heart beating, and the blood flowing through her veins. It wouldn't be as tasty as a Moroi's, of course, but it would still be satisfying. Especially since she's such a pretty young thing."

I stiffened at that. The Strigoi felt my change in posture and chuckled. "She's got this fire in her, too. I bet it carries to the bedroom. Would you know, boy?"

Christian growled viciously, springing up from the floor immediately. The Strigoi's hand on my chin tightened. "No no no. You wouldn't want me sinking my fangs into her soft, lush skin, would you?"

I watched as an animalistic cry of anguish ripped through Christian as he sat back down. He didn't know what to do. He hated not being able to do anything, I could tell. My heart crumbled a little for him. Christian and I didn't have the lovey-dovey feel he had with Lissa, but we sure as hell didn't want to see the other one get killed. And, just like I knew how I'd feel if anything happened to Christian, he'd be crushed if I died tonight.

The Strigoi continued to touch me, crooning words in my ear that I wasn't paying attention to. When his hands went a little too far, however, I lashed out, trying my best to land a blow on him. He was _not_ about to get away with groping me like I was some slut.

"Stop it!" Christian yelled. He was still sitting on the ground, not wanting to anger the Strigoi into killing me by standing up. I could tell he wanted to say much more inappropriate words, though. It was a feat in itself for him to have not swore just now.

The Strigoi hissed at him. "I've had about enough of your whining, brat. You're obviously not taking my threats seriously. Maybe this will change your behavior." And without warning, he sunk his teeth into my neck.

I screamed, bucking wildly to get away from him. I had let Moroi feed from me before, but it was strictly for life and death situations. And Lissa had been the only one.

My screams soon gave way to moans. In the back of my mind, I was disgusted with myself. But the pleasure from the endorphins were too strong, and those thoughts were immediately pushed away. I was floating, soaring high above any normal level of happiness. I didn't want the Strigoi to stop.

I almost whimpered when he did, pulling away to lick the blood off of his lips. My legs buckled beneath me, but he held me up, grinning at Christian triumphantly.

"Huh. She seemed to like that. You sure she's not a blood whore? She has the body for one. . . ."

"You asshole!"

I looked over at Christian, a little lazily, might I add. When my eyes finally focused on him, I saw that he was glaring at the Strigoi. If looks could kill, he'd be a smoking pile of dust right now.

I also saw that he was no longer sitting. He charged for the Strigoi.

I heard the Strigoi sigh dramatically, and then I suddenly found myself flying across the room. I hit the back wall hard, my skull cracking loudly, and fell onto a table that had been pushed up against the wall. The table was old and buckled under my weight, breaking apart. I grunted as I hit the floor. I could taste blood in my mouth, and my entire body ached. It took everything in me not to scream out in agony right then.

The impact of it all had dulled the endorphin rush and cleared my head a little. Despite my pain, I picked myself up, using the wall for support. When I looked up, the Strigoi that had been holding me was on the ground, rolling around frantically as he cried out.

Christian had lit him on fire.

I sprinted over, ignoring the sickening pain shooting through my right leg. But after watching the Strigoi for a few seconds, I realized that Christian's intent wasn't to incinerate him. It was to torture him.

I looked over at Christian and saw that he had another cut on his head, this one spilling blood a little bit more than the other. Looking back at the wall behind us, I saw that there was an insanely large hole there. While I was down, the Strigoi had managed to throw Christian into the wall before he got burned.

Christian stared at the Strigoi, concentrating on _not_ burning him to ashes. After he figured the Strigoi had had enough, the flames disappeared. I was not prepared for the horrible sight before me.

The Strigoi's skin had burned to a puckered black color in some places, and in others it was a sickly pink where the skin had been burned off completely. His chestnut brown hair hung in patches. It was terrifying, and yet as much as I wanted to, I couldn't look away. I _almost_ felt bad for the Strigoi.

"Apologize to her," barked Christian. The sound of his voice made me jump, finally breaking my stare. He sounded hollow, and his voice was . . . inflectionless. It creeped me out and sent a shiver down my spine all at the same time. It was strange to hear Christian speak without any emotion in his voice.

"Christian. . . ." I started.

He turned his gaze on me, and what I saw in his eyes scared me. He was angry. _Really _angry. He hadn't liked what the Strigoi had did and said to me, and he had been so afraid that I would die. He wanted to make the Strigoi suffer as much as he had made me suffer. But as much as this should've flattered me, I didn't like it. This wasn't what I came here for, and it wasn't necessary. Not only that, but I didn't want Christian to do this. It wasn't right, not for him. It reminded me of Lissa when the darkness overwhelmed her. Moroi were supposed to use their magic for good, and when it came down to life and death, then they used it to protect themselves and their kind. Tormenting another being wasn't what it should've been used for.

"No," he interrupted me. "What he did to you was wrong." He turned and glared at the trembling Strigoi again. "Apologize."

"I'm sorry!" he cried.

"Not good enough," Christian ground out between his teeth. "Say it like you mean it. Make her believe you." Suddenly, it hit me. Christian was using compulsion. He was _making_ the Strigoi apologize. I had always made jokes about Christian's crappy compulsion abilities, but right now, I could find nothing funny about this. It just . . . didn't seem right.

The Strigoi turned his eyes on me, and I tried not to flinch at the fear I saw there. I felt so wrong, having a Strigoi apologize to me. "I'm sorry!" he repeated. "Please. . . . Please don't burn me again."

"The hell I won't!" Christian screamed, stepping towards the Strigoi. I grabbed his arm, holding him back. He didn't notice. "You hurt Rose, you motherfucking piece of shit. You deserve to burn in hell."

I watched in shock as fire balls appeared in his hands again. "Christian!" I cried, jerking him back. "Stop it! I . . . I forgive him." I looked at the Strigoi when I said it. I honestly didn't even know if I meant it or not, but I didn't want to stay here any longer. "We need to leave."

It took him a while to calm down, but finally, he nodded, stepping away and rubbing his hand over his face. I could tell this whole thing wore him out. We had to get back to the Academy fast.

I picked up my discarded stake and walked back over to the Strigoi. He knew what I was about to do.

"No!" he shouted. I could see him trying to get up, but his legs were burned too badly. I quickened my pace, coming to kneel beside him.

Despite practically becoming an undead shish kabob, the Strigoi had this fierceness in his eyes. The compulsion had faded, and he was back to being the big bad wolf.

I didn't want to torment this Strigoi anymore. I just wanted to be done with this whole thing so we could go back. And that's why I made his death fast and swift.

I got up from the floor after staking him, going over to stand by Christian. I put my hands on his shoulders, staring him in the eyes. The burning rage that had been in them seconds ago had been replaced with weariness.

"Christian," I whispered. "Are you okay?"

He nodded. "I . . . I thought you were going to die. He hurt you. He said cruel things to you. . . ."

Not even thinking, I pulled him into me for a hug. He hugged back, exhaling heavily, his worry spilling out. "I'm fine, it's okay. You didn't have to do that, Christian."

He pulled back to look me in the eyes. His gaze was steady, telling me that he was serious. "I wanted to. What he did to you wasn't right, Rose. But . . . I honestly don't know what came over me. I even scared myself. I didn't know what to do. I was scared."

I realized that, like the rest of us, what happened back in Spokane had affected Christian greatly, too. He had covered his feelings about it with attitude, much like me, not wanting to be seen as weak and afraid. When he was captured today and saw me get hurt, he wanted to make up not only for not being able to help me today, but for the time in Spokane where he had been helpless as well. Just like me and Eddie, he blamed himself for Mason's death, too. He felt like he could've done more, when the truth was that there was nothing any of us could've done to save Mason, as much as it killed us to admit. We couldn't blame ourselves.

"I was scared too, Christian. But it's over now, and I'm fine. You're fine, too. What's important is that we made it out of this alive. Now we have to go back to the Academy. I . . . I kind of snuck out to come and get you. Dimitri was going to round up a rescue group, but I didn't want to wait that long, so I came alone. It was stupid, which I realize now. We could have both gotten killed tonight. I'm sorry for putting you in danger like that."

Christian shook his head. "You didn't put anyone in danger, Rose. Did you see what you just did? You took out three Strigoi! And God only knows how many more you took down on your way here. You just saved both our asses. You're a hero."

I smiled. "Yeah, I am pretty badass, huh? Even after getting thrown around like a rag doll."

He laughed. "Yeah, you are."

I led him back to the Academy, and he helped me walk. I don't know why my leg was so screwed up, but whatever happened, I couldn't walk straight. Looked like Dr. Olendzki would be seeing her favorite patient again.

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**Just for clarification, **no, Rose and Christian are not falling in love with each other. That's not the direction my story was going in. Christian and Rose just have such a good friendship that if one of them died, the other would honestly cry. Or at least they have that friendship in my story, but I'm pretty sure they have that same type of friendship to Richelle too. I just wanted to make sure you guys knew that to avoid confusion haha **(:** Let me know how you felt about the chapter, leave a review! **(:****  
xoxo,  
**Ryan

**By the way, **not that you guys are all that interested in this, but I broke up with my boyfriend. He's one of those guys that thinks that "dating" means asking out any amount of random girls and going out with whoever says yes. Ugh. Whata loser. But don't worry, I'm not sad! I didn't even really like him haha** (:**


	20. Hospital Visits

**Eek!** You guys are amazing! I love your reviews! I hope you guys like this chapter, I know it's not that long so I apologize. I hit a severe case of writer's block. Ugh. I'm such an amateur **(:**

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When we got back to the Academy, we found complete and utter destruction.

Daylight had already arrived. The sun's rays poked through the clouds that dotted the sky. I saw Christian shield his eyes from my peripheral vision, and I unconsciously shifted to block the light from him.

I gasped when I saw the amount of bodies on the ground. Most of them were Strigoi, but a guardian's death was always taken hard because of how few dhampirs the world already had.

The battle looked like it had been over for a while. Damn. Dimitri was going to be pissed. No doubt he had noticed I was gone and was freaking out trying to find me.

"We missed everything," Christian said, bringing me out of my thoughts. I almost laughed. He sounded disappointed.

"Come on," I said, tugging his arm along as I attempted to walk. "Help me find Dimitri. I don't want him to have a heart attack when they do a head count and find us gone."

We walked around campus, searching for him. We passed by a few guardians whose task sadly fell to cleaning up, but there was no sign of Dimitri. I frowned when we stopped in front of the Moroi dorms.

"I haven't seen him," I murmured.

"Me neither," Christian said. "Maybe he's in the infirmary? We should ask someone."

I nodded, spotting Alberta talking to Stan in the distance. I mentally breathed a sigh of relief. Despite a few cuts and bruises, at least they were okay.

Alberta's eyes widened a bit when she saw me and took in my bedraggled form. I was pretty sure I looked like hell right now. I felt like it too. I had been punched and kicked, thrown around, fed from, and I bet I had been one moment away from getting bitch-slapped from that evil Strigoi chick.

"Rose!" Alberta gasped. "Where have you been? What happened? We've been looking all over campus for you two! You were the only ones reported missing! And speaking of which. . . What's Christian doing with you?"

"It's a long story," I sighed. "But basically, I hurt my leg and I can barely walk, which sucks. Christian's been helping me." I tried to carefully avoid the part where Christian was kidnapped by Strigoi and I went after him alone.

Alberta's eyes narrowed. "You only answered one of my questions."

Damn. "Technically, I answered two." I hurried on to continue as she opened her mouth, undoubtedly to push me for more information. "Sorry, I'll explain later, but have you two seen Dimitri?"

Stan's stony face turned somber. "He was attacked. A Strigoi grabbed him and banged him up pretty good shortly after he came and told us Christian was gone. Dr. Olendzki doesn't know if he'll make it, Rose."

I kept staring at him. Finally, when my mind comprehended the insanity of his words, I gaped. "No. . . . No!"

I was off, running towards the infirmary at full speed. I had to get to him. I had to see him. He had to be okay. He would make it.

But in the flurry of thoughts in my head, not a single one of them said, _"You idiot, where are you going? You can't run." _And that was why I fell.

Christian was the first one over to me. "Rose! Are you okay?"

I rolled over onto my back, trying to get back up again. Alberta offered her hand. I took it, climbing back up onto my feet and wincing at the pain in my leg.

"I have to get to the infirmary. I have to see Dimitri." I tried my best to keep the hysteria out of my voice.

"Stan, can you carry her over there? Dr. Olendzki needs to check her out too."

Stan nodded, stepping forward. I wasn't too thrilled about having to be carried. I could make it over there just fine on my own. But we all knew I'd get there quicker if I was carried.

I wrapped my arms around his neck, jumping up as he enfolded me in his arms, carrying me like a baby. I didn't have to worry about struggling to ignore the utter weirdness of this whole situation. Dimitri was the only thing on my mind. Stan's words kept replaying over and over in my head, like a bad record: "_Dr. Olendzki doesn't know if he'll make it."_

Christian followed behind us, keeping a surprisingly good pace for someone in his condition. I knew he was still tired and probably needed blood. Not to mention the fact that the cuts on his face would get infected if they weren't treated properly.

When Christian and I had stopped to ask Alberta and Stan for help, we hadn't been that far off from the clinic, which was why we got there in a relatively short time.

Stan walked me all the way in, still continuing to hold me as he talked to a nurse. I didn't hear what he said, though, because I was abruptly pulled into Lissa's head.

She was sobbing.

She was also on her bed, in her room, safe and sound. I felt myself relax a little at this. She had no cuts and bruises, so she was physically fine. Emotionally, though, was a different story.

She had her head in her hands, and I knew she had heard about Christian and I going missing. She had also figured out that we had been fighting together again during the attack. She didn't know that we were both back and were unharmed, give or take. I felt her emotions spike all over the place, and the feeling was a little bit disorienting. My own body wasn't in the best of health right now, and I had a headache to top it all off.

I got a sinking feeling in my stomach, and I cursed the stupid one-way bond for the thousandth time. She couldn't sense me in her head, and I couldn't tell her I was fine unless I went to her. And it wouldn't help matters when she heard Christian and I were in the clinic.

I also could feel that she wasn't _only_ crying for Christian and I. She was worried about Dimitri, too. He had promised her that he would find me and Christian and let her know we were safe as soon as the attack was over. He even told her that he knew I, at least, was okay because I was in my room. I immediately felt ten times worse. I hadn't been in my room like I should've been. I had to be stupid and reckless like always, going off and doing something alone because I thought it was the only way. My actions were why people got hurt. It happened with Christian, it happened with Mason, and now, it happened with Dimitri. When would I learn?

Probing further, I realized that Lissa didn't know Dimitri was hurt. It was almost obvious, anyways. If he was, she would've been in the clinic healing him. Adrian might've even been helping. Speaking of which, I wondered if he was okay. . . .

Suddenly, a loud, persistent voice brought me out of Lissa's head. I blinked, and then I was no longer seeing _her_ room, but the room of the infirmary that I was in.

Dr. Olendzki was leaning over me, brow furrowed. When she realized I was staring back at her, she took a step back. "Good. You're . . . awake."

"I was in Lissa's head. . . ." I trailed off.

"I thought so," she said. "Is the Princess okay?"

I nodded. "She's fine, but can someone go tell her Fire Boy and I are okay? She's going nuts."

Dr. Olendzki nodded to Stan, who was standing by my bed, and he walked out, presumably to tell Lissa we were back.

"Now, back to you. How are you, Rose? I can hardly believe that it's been an entire five months since the last time you were here." She smiled gently.

"Yeah, I can't believe it either. I wouldn't even be here today if Alberta hadn't overreacted and insisted I come for my leg." I paused, my heart skipping a beat as I thought about who else was here. "Actually, that's a lie. Look, I'm really okay, so you don't need to check on me. But can I see Dimitri?" I mentally prayed to whoever was listening that Alberta was just exaggerating when she told me he might not make it. I refused to believe anything else.

But Dr. Olendzki confirmed my worst fears. "I'm sorry Rose, but he's not in a good condition right now. . . . We don't know if he can live with the amount of physical trauma he's undergone."

I could feel my breathing stop altogether, and then I hurriedly inhaled, almost panting. "But. . . . But he was fine earlier! He's going to live, I know he is! I need to see him! What's wrong with him?"

Dr. Olendzki put her hands on my shoulders. "Rose, honey, breath. You're hyperventilating, and you need to calm down."

All of the emotions I had been feeling earlier caused me to explode, and I'm sure it didn't help that I had just been killing tons of Strigoi earlier. The darkness in me surged, taking control. "Don't you fucking tell me what to do! I have to see Dimitri!"

I broke away from her hands and made a break for the door. My leg gave way again, and I would've crumbled toward the floor if the distance from the bed to the wall hadn't been so short. I used the wall to brace myself, and then opened the door and limped out before she could grab me.

I stumbled down the hallway, holding the wall, ignoring Dr. Olendzki's voice calling after me. I would find Dimitri, whether she was willing to tell me where his room was or not. I peeked into some of the rooms and was grateful when I found Dimitri lying in the second one I looked at.

I opened the door and walked in, took one look towards the bed, and stopped. My blood ran cold as a shiver crept down my spine.

Dimitri was laying on the bed with his head and ribs bandaged and bloodied, shirtless, with his left arm in a cast. His knuckles were taped, but you could still see open cuts and sores on them. Tubes were hooked up to his arms to draw blood into a bag hanging on a pole by the bed. His legs were covered by a blanket, but I didn't doubt that at least one of them were sprained or broken. And blood was everywhere: his face, his chest, his hands. . . .

I felt a tear run down my face as it occured to me that Dimitri wouldn't be in this condition if I had just stayed in my room.

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**Ohemgee!** So many lovely reviews from you all! I love you guys. Really, I do. It'll be awesome to hear from more of you though! I always check how many hits and visitors this story gets, and let me tell ya, there's a lot more people reading this than the reviews let on! Come on guys, you're making me look bad **(;** Just kiddinggg. But I am grateful for everyone reading this. Thanks, guys!  
**xoxo,**  
Ryan

**P.S.** I don't know why I'm telling you guys this 'cause I'm sure you have more important things to worry about than my love life, but I'm back together with my ex-boyfriend It's an open type of relationship. I realized I don't like him enough to care who else he asks out. Besides, sources tell me that no one else has gone out with him anyways...  
**(;**


	21. I Love You Too

**I totally forget to mention in my last chapter **how happy I was that we've hit 20 chapters! Well, I am **:)** Sorry for the uber-long wait guys, I have no excuse** :( **I apologize for the cliff-hanger at the end of this chapter (don't act as though you didn't expect one! You should know me by now** :P**)

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"Dimitri," I murmured, my hand instinctively reaching out to him lying there in his bed, unconscious but still breathing, for however long that might be.

I hiccupped suddenly, and my breath hitched the moment I thought that. I felt tears stinging at the corners of my eyes and I blinked furiously, trying to keep them at bay. I had to be strong . . . for Dimitri.

I took a small step closer and the moment I did, the door to his room burst open. I didn't bother turning around. I knew who it was.

"Rose. . . ." I shook a little when Lissa came up and wrapped her arms around me, closing my eyes when I heard her gasp.

I turned in her arms to face her, and I could feel the waves of sympathy and distress rolling off of her from the bond as she saw Dimitri for the first time since the attack. I knew the amount of blood on him was overwhelming. "They told me they don't know how much longer he has. . . . They think he might die, Liss." My voice cracked painfully and I turned my head, trying desperately to get a hold of myself.

I couldn't believe that I was possibly facing losing Dimitri. _Again. _Why? Why was the world so cruel, to put Dimitri and I through this pain not once, but _twice_? Was there some price we had to pay? I would admit in a second that I had done things in my past that I wasn't exactly proud of, but what did Dimitri do for us to have to continually suffer at the hands of a world who apparently didn't want us together?

I immediately banished the thought. This wasn't Dimitri's fault. It was mine, all mine. If I had just listened . . . would Dimitri have been okay? As much as my heart screamed at me that he would've, my head whispered, _Who knows what else could've happened?_

Lissa rested her hand on my shoulder. "I'm so sorry, Rose. . . . God, if I only would've known. . . . You know I would've helped, Rose. You _know_ it." Lissa was frantic by now, and I knew it wasn't that she thought I was upset with her for not doing _something_. She was just as shaken up as me.

And, I realized with sharp clarity, she blamed herself for this too.

My head snapped back up to face her full-on. I gripped her arms, getting her attention. "This is not your fault, Liss. You did everything you were supposed to. I don't know what I would've done if you had been out there fighting like me and Christian."

I saw the spark of sadness flare in her eyes again. Stan already told her that we were both fine. Christian was most likely either being treated for his cuts and scrapes or was back in his room already, waiting around for Lissa.

She pulled me into her for a hug, and I held on, taking comfort from having my best friend here with me.

_I talked to Dr. Olendzki. She's outside. She said take as long as you needed._

I nodded to Lissa, her silent message that she sent through the bond bringing me even more comfort.

But my mood shifted to darker thoughts once again as I yearned for the option of having Lissa heal Dimitri, bringing him back to full health and possibly from the brink of death, even. He wouldn't be shadow-kissed because he wasn't . . . _gone_ yet. So Lissa wouldn't have to worry about going mental and losing it like another spirit user we knew of: Avery. She had bonded more than one person, and it had gotten nasty. We had heard news of her story a while ago. It was devastating, and I never wanted anything like that to happen to Lissa.

But even though it seemed safe for Lissa to heal Dimitri, I knew it wasn't. Even though he was still alive, he was also too far gone for Lissa to heal him without consequence. It would release more darkness, possibly making the deterioration of both hers and my mental health speed up. I couldn't risk that.

Liss was the first to pull back. "You stay here," she told me abruptly, rubbing my forearms soothingly. "I'll be right back."

I almost called out to her before something that I hadn't felt for a while trickled to me: blankness. Lissa was purposefully blocking me from feeling anything from her. I just barely caught her eye as she left the room, leaving me a little stunned.

Turning back to face Dimitri, I crawled up into the bed with him, curling into his side as I silently cried. I stroked his cheek, still careful to not hurt him despite the fact that he wasn't even awake.

I immediately sat up, frantically pressing two of my fingers to his wrist and leaning my head down to his chest to check that he was still breathing. I felt a heartbeat in both areas and relaxed, and then my ears detected the beeping coming from the heart-monitor machine. In my flurry of panic, I hadn't even noticed that if Dimitri's heart _had_ stopped, a loud, insistent beep would've sounded in the room.

I tried to slow my racing heart as I laid back down, wiping my eyes quickly before a wave of fresh tears started anew.

And that's how I stayed, not even taking the slightest notice at how much time passed before Lissa returned. I had gone still and hollow, just an empty shell of myself as I hoped and prayed to whoever was listening that the only person I had ever loved would live.

"Rose?" Lissa murmured, entering the room again. I didn't move from my spot curled up next to Dimitri, listening as I heard her footsteps approaching me. She gently shook my shoulder, and I heard her take a deep breath. I still couldn't feel anything from the bond, although I could tell her willpower to keep me out was wavering. I felt emotions that I wasn't yet able to recognize trying to push their way through to me from the bond. "Rose, I-I have a surprise for you. I'm going to help you, and you're not going to protest, okay?"

This made me turn around. Was she actually trying to . . . _compel_ me?

Looking into her eyes, I saw that she wasn't using compulsion, but simply pleading with me. I gripped Dimitri's hand, sitting up slowly. "Liss. . . ."

She shook her head, and it was then that I noticed there was someone else in the room.

Adrian.

My heart clenched painfully. I hadn't seen him in so long. . . . The last time I saw him was at my graduation party, before. . . . _Oh God. _The voice in my head was mine this time, and I clenched my eyes shut for a quick moment before opening them again, looking back into the eyes of my friend.

"Adrian. . . ." I murmured, my voice catching. I didn't realize how happy I was to know he was safe until that moment.

I tore myself away from Dimitri, trying to push down the guilt-ridden urge to go back to him as I made my way to Adrian.

I flung myself into his arms, inhaling his scent of cloves and liquor, feeling him hesitate briefly before wrapping his arms around my frame, caught off guard.

I looked up into his eyes. "I missed you," I told him, and I meant every word. I did miss him, and I was genuinely pleased that he was okay.

His eyes twinkled with just the tiniest amount of amusement, despite his obvious somber mood. "I missed you too, little dhampir. I'm glad you're not hurt."

I swallowed hard. I wasn't. Someone else was. "Adrian," I whispered. "What are you doing here?" I took a step back, removing myself from his arms.

His eyes flicked towards Lissa. "I'm here for the same reason she is. I'm going to heal Dimitri."

My eyes widened in surprise and the next thing I knew, I was shaking my head before I could even think about it. "No. Adrian, Liss, I can't let you do that. . . . The darkness. . . ."

Lissa crossed the room in a second flat, coming to stand beside us. Her and Adrian were both obviously opening their mouths to rebut me, but Lissa beat him to the punch. "I knew you would say that, and that's exactly the reason why Adrian's here. I won't be healing him alone, Rose."

"But Adrian doesn't have anyone bonded to him. He has no one to take the darkness from him." I looked into his eyes, and I saw the most unusual thing for Adrian there: hardcore will and determination. Nothing was going to sway Adrian right now.

"It doesn't matter, Rose. I'm helping Belikov, whether you're willing to let me or not." He smiled then, a tiny, semi-strained one. "Besides, my healing powers aren't nearly as kick-ass as Lissa's. I won't be absorbing that much darkness. I'll just be saving Lissa from getting _all_ of it."

I hesitated, considering. He was right. Lissa wouldn't be the only one healing Dimitri, so naturally she wouldn't have to use too much power. It could work. Finally, I nodded.

"Good." Adrian gestured to Lissa. "You ready? I'm not exactly sure what to do right now. . . ."

I knew this was awkward for Adrian. He was saving the boyfriend of the girl he was . . . _infatuated _with. This couldn't have been easy on him.

I caught his hand in mine, and he turned back around to face me. "Thank you," I said earnestly, staring into his eyes. "This means a lot to me, Adrian."

He stared back, just as earnest. "I would go to the ends of this earth for you, little dhampir. Why? Because I love you."

My mouth dropped. His words stunned me, and I could barely form a coherent thought. I tried to answer him, mouth opening and closing like a fish.

He waved me off. "Rose, you don't have to say anything. I love you, and I know you love me too. But before you protest," he said, cutting me off from commenting, "I know that you don't love me the way you love Belikov. And I'm fine with that, really. You love me the way you love Lissa. I can handle that. Even if that's all you'll ever think of me as, I'll be happy. Just don't forget that I'm here for you, okay?"

I smiled at him, feeling tears spring back up into my eyes. I hugged him tight, burying my face in his polo shirt. "I do love you too, Adrian. I won't forget."

He rubbed my back, murmuring into my hair, "Good."

"Hey Adrian?" We broke apart and looked in Lissa's direction. "You're still helping, right? Or do you plan on hugging Rose the entire time?"

He grinned. "If the second one is actually an option, then I think I'll stick with that."

I smiled and punched his arm playfully. Same old Adrian, only now thinking of me as a friend instead of a piece of ass.

I waited at the foot of the bed as Lissa and Adrian went to work on Dimitri, prepared to immediately take the darkness from Lissa. Dimitri's heart rate was still steady, but it had slowed down considerably. I tried not to think about this, instead focusing on clearing my mind and sending positive thoughts to everyone in the room.

"Ready?" Lissa asked, looking at Adrian. Adrian had been right when he said his healing powers weren't as good as Lissa's. He had just recently gotten past healing plants to healing cuts and bruises. Nothing major, but still useful nonetheless. It also took more concentration for Adrian.

He nodded and put his hands on Dimitri, taking a deep breath. Lissa did the same, but before I could even feel the magic float through the bond like it always did when she healed, Dimitri's heart stopped.

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**Again, I'm sooo sorry about the cliff-hanger! **I swear I'm working on the next chapter as we speak! I hope I can have this finished by the time I move at the end of this month, and then I might do a sequel. I actually don't know how I'm going to end this yet. If I end it well, then I might just work on my new story of one-shots, "Better Than Yours", so yeah. And if you haven't checked that out yet, go now! Please **:)** I'm about to update it.

**Also,** I'd love to hear what you'd like to see happen in the next chapter, so leave that in your review! **(:**  
**xoxo,**  
Ryan


	22. AUTHOR'S NOTE

**A/N: (POSSIBLE SPOILERS!)**

**Okay guys, I'm totally interested to hear what you want to see in the next chapter, so I posted a poll on my page. I thought through every possible situation (now that Dimitri's heart has stopped), which there aren't very many, so I'd like to hear from you guys. Please go to my page and vote! Thank you! (:  
**xoxo,  
**Ryan**

**P.S. This will be deleted when I post the next chapter.**


	23. Sweetest Melody

**Okay, so I just wanted to thank everyone** for taking the time to go to my page and vote! I'm not going to say the results cuz I don't want to ruin anything... So yeah, thanks again everyone! And enjoy this chapter!** :)**

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There's a difference between almost losing the one you love and losing them right before your very eyes. With the first one, at least you still get them back in the end. At least you're given a second chance to love and cherish them. Sure, you're scared half to death, but they're still with you in the end.

With the latter, though, you don't get a second chance. Although I suppose in my case, you can say I don't get a _third_ chance. When they're gone, you can't do the things that you suddenly wish you could've done when they were alive. You'll never get to hold them, touch them, kiss them, speak to them, or apologize to them. . . . All of the bad things you ever did to that person comes crashing down on your heart. And there's _nothing you can do._

When the one you love dies, there's this heartbreaking moment of numbness. You can't move, speak, think, or _feel_. It's like you're nothing. You can't comprehend a single thing going on around you because you're just_ not aware_.

And then, like a tidal wave, everything crashes back into motion. And the feeling is so intense it almost knocks you over for a second. You can't breathe, because you're trying so hard to take in what just happened. And when you can finally understand . . . you crumble. You see, in the numb stage you weren't actually numb. You understood perfectly what was happening, you just chose to ignore it and pretend it wasn't real. And all the while, your armor was being chipped away at, piece by piece, until you broke.

I broke. I crumbled. I did a hell of a lot more than that. As soon as I was able to regain my breath, there was an ear-splitting scream that sounded around the room. I could barely believe that I was the one screaming. Never in my life had I made a sound that loud.

My weight became too much to bear and my legs gave way, dropping me to my knees as I cried out in anguish. No, this wasn't possible. Dimitri couldn't be dead. He loved me, I loved him, we had finally worked out our future. _How could he be dead?_

I sobbed, calling out his name as though that alone would bring him back to me. I didn't even notice that I was being pulled up from the ground, a set of arms encircling me and holding me close as I cried my heart out.

"Shh, little dhampir. . . . Don't cry, it's going to be okay. . . ."

I looked up into Adrian's face, momentarily stopping my sobs to speak. "How can you say that?" I whispered. "Dimitri's dying . . . _and you could be saving him_."

Adrian's face contorted into a pained expression. "I can't, little dhampir. . . ."

I felt my sorrow immediately morph into anger. "No, you can't, because you're too damn selfish! Fuck you, Adrian!" I screamed.

He gripped my shoulders, staring into my eyes, willing me to understand. "Rose, stop! That's not it at all! You _know_ that."

"All I know," I growled at him, "is that you don't give a shit about me or Dimitri. You couldn't even _try_ to save him."

Adrian's eyes were blazing, but it wasn't with the fury mine had. "You want me to try, Rose? Fine. I'll go over there and try to revive a dead body when I walked into this room knowing damned well that I couldn't even heal a fucking broken bone. And then I'll spend every waking minute of my life dealing with the guilt that comes with knowing I wasn't strong enough to save the man you love. But that's just fine and dandy as long as it finally gives you a legit reason to hate me, right?"

Adrian hit a nerve, and a second later, he realized it too. "Little dhampir, that's not what I-"

"Save it!" I screamed at him, shoving him away from me. "You won't heal Dimitri. I get it."

"I'm so sorry Rose, I didn't-"

"Just go, Adrian."

One look at my face was enough for him to see that I wasn't in the mood for hearing his excuses right now. Not only had he pissed me off, but I was also currently in a fragile-enough state. He left, throwing me one last apologetic look. I would stay up all night and deal with the tortuous thoughts of Dimitri dying if that was what it would take to keep him out of my dreams tonight.

As soon as he was gone, a whimper bubbled up from my throat, and I covered my mouth and rushed over to Dimitri's side as my tears started anew. I gripped his hand in mine and brushed his hair away from his face.

"Dimitri, baby, please don't die, I love you! You promised you'd never leave me! Please don't leave me now. . . ." Words became harder to choke out as my crying increased.

Dr. Olendzki noticed me there. "Rose, trust me, I know you want Dimitri back. But we can't do that if you're getting in the way. You have to let us do our job, so either go sit down, or leave."

I felt a small hand gripping my arm and I panicked, trying desperately to shake them off of me. "No, I can't leave him! He needs me!"

"_Rose! _Look at me!"

I turned around slowly and my eyes met with Lissa's. She was crying, too, and looking at me with desperation. "Please, come sit with me, Rose."

I stared at her for a moment longer, both of us crying silently, before I finally took one last look at Dimitri and let him go, leaving to sit in one of the chairs in the room with Lissa.

She held me as I cried into her shirt, smoothing my hair and whispering soothing words that I wasn't paying attention to but still felt better hearing. I was lost in my own thoughts, my mind practically miles away.

I know I shouldn't have been thinking the things I were, but I couldn't help it. I wanted to die.

But I couldn't. I had to be here for Lissa.

As a guardian, I had been fully prepared to give up everything a normal girl my age would be able to have, just so I would be able to protect Lissa. I never minded it because there was nothing I wanted more than to guard my best friend. But it was the most horrible feeling in the world to wish your own death, but knowing it was one more thing you couldn't have, even if it meant having nothing. . . . I hated it.

Dimitri was gone, and it felt so wrong for me to get the chance to live when he deserved life so much more than I did. I had even been given a _second chance_ to live! Lissa brought me back when we were in the accident! And what had I done with my second chance? Fooled around, broke rules, snuck out, partied, and practically endangered my reputation several times. All for the sake of having a good time. What had Dimitri done with his second chance? Realized how precious life was and finally learned to cherish what and who he had while he still had it. And yet he was dead.

I don't know how long Lissa and I stayed like that, both of us lost in our own thoughts but having completely different mind-sets. It could've been five minutes or five hours, for all I knew. I was so lost in my thoughts, though, that I didn't even comprehend the convulsions my body was having until I looked up at Lissa and realized she was shaking me.

I stared at her, confused, until my ears picked up the sound of the most glorious music.

The sound of Dimitri's heart beating.

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**So I didn't kill off Dimitri :) **Even if you had all voted for that, I swear I would've been sobbing the entire time I wrote the chapter. I like Dimitri. I love Adrian more though haha. Sorry** :) **Please review, guys!**  
xoxo,  
**Ryan


	24. Aftermath

**I apologize for the uber-long wait! **I've been so busy lately **:/** Anyways, I also apologize for this chapter kinda being on the short side. I hope you enjoy it though **:)** Leave a review, guys! Oh, and by the way, I totally forgot to mention back on Chapter 20 that _we've reached 20 chapters! _Yay! I'm so late on it though haha. I'm probably going to have another survey up on my page after the next chapter, because I'm planning on ending this one soon and maybe doing a sequel? Let me know what you think **:)**

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"Dimitri. . . ." I breathed. And like that, I was up.

Dr. Olendzki was quick to react. She stepped in front of me, blocking my view of Dimitri. "Rose," she said gently. "I know you're happy his heart's beating and everything, but we need a moment to make sure it's going to stay that way. He also needs rest. After being dead for ten minutes and then miraculously being revived, he's not going to be exactly fit for chatting." I grimaced when she mentioned him being dead. She noticed, expression softening further, but continued. "We also need to make sure nothing was affected by his heart stopping. You know, loss of verbal and physical skills, eyesight and hearing problems, etcetera."

"Rose," Lissa cut in. "Maybe we should go get something to eat. Dimitri won't wake up for a while, and you really need some rest after everything that happened today."

I nodded mutely, not sure what else I could do. I wanted to stay by Dimitri's side until he actually did wake up, but I knew I wouldn't be allowed in there when they ran the tests and stuff. With my current frame of mind, one word of bad news and I'd probably be choking the nearest nurse.

Before Lissa tugged me out the door, I turned back to Dr. Olendzki. "You'll tell me when he wakes up, right? Like, as soon as his eyes open? I want to be here for him."

She nodded, and I left with Lissa. Call me crazy, but my mind hadn't registered my aching ankle amongst all the insanity and chaos that was Dimitri's hospital room. As soon as we were back inside the clinic lobby, I had to stop Lissa.

She looked at me strangely. "Rose, are you okay? What's wrong?"

I put a hand on my throbbing head. I had the worst headache imaginable. It was like a million little hammers banging against the front of my skull. I had a brief flashback of being thrown across the room in the caves by the Strigoi, and I groaned.

Lissa was still shooting me worried glances as she led me to a chair. "Rose, talk to me! You look like you're in pain!"

I opened an eye and looked at her. "I am." I shut my eyes again and winced as another jolt of burning shot up my leg.

Before I could stop her, Lissa's hand was on my forehead. My eyes flew open to glare at her.

"Liss, you need blood. As soon as possible. Don't waste your magic on me, I'm fine." I swatted her hand away, but she had already healed my headache. All that was left was a dull throbbing that I could easily tune out.

She frowned. "Are you sure? It's fine Rose, really. I could heal your leg too. It's not big deal."

I refrained from glowering at her again. "It_ is_ a big deal. You're weak, and I can heal on my own. A little bit of pain is nothing I can't handle. Now let's go." We exited the clinic and Lissa began to head towards the feeding room in the Moroi dorms, helping me walk while still looking at me disapprovingly from time to time.

I waited by the door as she spoke with a middle-aged Moroi woman who led her to a cubicle. I looked around, taking note of how packed the room was. A lot of the senior Moroi had used magic offensively against Strigoi and were apparently really burned out from it. Using magic offensively came with a cost to a Moroi's energy. Examining the faces, I was shocked to see that Aaron, Lissa's ex-boyfriend, was among them.

I considered walking up to him and asking how he was doing, but he was walking towards a feeder by the time I took a step in his direction. I made a mental note to talk to him later. It had been a while since we last spoke, and I really was curious about how he was. I also wanted to hear what he knew about the after-effects of the attack.

When Lissa finished and came back to me, I was so tired I probably could've slept for a month. Lissa sensed this, but didn't say anything as we walked up the stairs to Christian's floor.

The wards were back up and the security was still as tight as it had been when the school was under attack, which was completely understandable. We didn't know if the Strigoi would double back, desperate to catch us off guard when our numbers had lowered. There were a couple guardians stationed on each floor in both the Moroi and dhampir dorms, and there were even more down in the lobby and milling around campus outside. Parents were going to be rushing over to take their kids back to vacation homes or wherever else they would go as soon as everything calmed down.

The hall matron on Christian's floor gave us a funny look when she saw us, but didn't say anything as we made our way to his door. With the chaos going on, Lissa could hardly get in trouble for being a concerned girlfriend.

Even though I knew there were quite a few guardians around us, I couldn't help taking glances down the hall every so often. My protective instincts for Lissa ran too strong. I didn't care how tired, hungry, or hurt I was - if a Strigoi showed up, I'd have my stake out in a second.

Christian opened the door on the third knock. He had cleaned up and his hair was still damp from a shower. His clothes were fresh, and he had a medium-sized gauze bandage on his head. He didn't do anything about the cut on his lip, not that it was all that bad to begin with.

Lissa immediately flung herself into his arms, and it was me that shoved them inside and shut the door before the hall matron saw them making out.

I took me a while to notice that Lissa was sobbing, and from the look on Christian's face he was taken by surprise too.

"Shh, it's okay, babe," he murmured into her hair, rubbing circles into her back. I looked away, my heart aching for Dimitri all the way on the other side of campus. If it was me in that bed, he never would've left my side, no matter what the nurses said. He loved me enough to stay with me every time I went to the clinic, even if I was unconscious or there for a relatively insignificant accident like an ankle sprain.

The strong, abrupt change of emotion coming from Lissa through the bond snapped me from my thoughts. She was angry, and she let into us literally one second after I sensed her feelings.

"I can't believe you two went off on some stupid mission to kill Strigoi! What were you thinking? Do you know how _worried_ I was?"

Christian winced. "Sorry, Liss, but you know me and Rose. If there's a Strigoi within a mile of us . . . well, stupid's our middle name." He grinned impishly, reaching over to knuckle-touch me. I smiled a little.

Liss was practically growling. "That's not funny, Christian! You two could've gotten yourselves killed!"

She immediately stopped after that, realizing what she'd just said. My smile dried up, thoughts turning back to Dimitri. I suddenly didn't care how tired or hungry I was, it was wrong for me to not be back in that room with him.

Christian sensed the change in us. "What happened?" he asked, mouth tightening in concern.

Lissa looked at me before speaking, wondering if it was okay to tell him. I didn't say anything, instead just turning away to sit on the futon in Christian's room.

"Chris. . . ." she began, whispering in a way that she thought would keep most of her words from reaching me. Sadly, I heard everything. "It's Guardian Belikov. He . . . well, he literally died about half an hour ago in the clinic. That's where Rose and I were."

I couldn't see Christian's face, but he didn't say anything for a while. "Man," he finally said, "I'm real sorry to hear that. He was one of the best guardians I've ever met. I'm sure Rose is pretty torn up about it." He didn't know the extent of mine and Dimitri's relationship, but he, like everyone else, knew that we were close.

Christian was also speaking in a low voice. I don't know what upset me more; the fact that I could still hear them and they didn't know it, or me having to relive the most horrible moment in my life.

I spoke up. "I'm . . . I'm okay now. He's alive. They revived him, and he's in the clinic. They're running tests to make sure he's alright." My voice cracked slightly on the last word, and I cleared my throat.

Lissa was looking at me with sympathy, and Christian's face still showed concern. "Rose," he began. "You look like you're about to crash. If you want, you could, um, stay here while Liss and I go get something to eat. . . ."

I shook my head. "Thanks, but I'm fine, really. I think I'm going to go find Eddie or something. I haven't seen him since the party, and I'm worried about him."

I started to leave, but Lissa's hand on my arm stopped me. I looked back at her and she smiled. "We'll go with you. Besides, you'll probably fall down the stairs without me."

* * *

We found Eddie in his room. He had been asleep, but he refused to go back to bed when we showed up. After walking inside and taking seats around his room, we caught him up on everything, including Dimitri. Christian enlightened us on what he'd heard from the guardians. Luckily, this attack wasn't as bad as the last one had been. We didn't lose that many guardians, but we still needed to replenish the numbers. The mood was darkened further when we heard that Yuri, a school guardian, was among the ones that didn't make it. I hadn't been as close to him as I had been to a couple other guardians, but he was still nice to me whenever he saw me, making small talk and joking about my rebellious nature. I'd miss him a lot.

Our flight to Court had been postponed until everyone was sure it would be safe for a jet to come pick us up. Officials didn't want Strigoi attacking the plane the moment we boarded. I was actually grateful for this. I didn't want Dimitri leaving the clinic until he got his strength back up.

After a few more minutes of discussion, it was decided that we would go catch something to eat. Despite my stomach growling viciously for food, I had to part with them before we made it to the lounge, where a buffet of food had been set up. There was something I needed to do first.

I made a couple of promises to meet up with them in a few minutes and then jogged across campus, fueled by my need. Okay, so I didn't jog, I limped. It worked just as well.

I was ready to collapse after making it only halfway to my destination, but I kept on. My effort paid off as I walked up to the door, taking a deep breath as I knocked. The door swung open on my fifth knock.

"Little dhampir. . . ."

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**Ha, I bet you thought she was going to see Dimitri ;) **Or maybe not haha. Anyways, leave a review and let me know if you guys think I should do a sequel to this or not **:) **Thanks all!  
**xoxo,  
**RyRy


	25. Perfection

**OMG **I don't think I've ever made an update two days in a row! Eeek! That's how amazing your freakin' reviews are! I love you guys SO much!

**I'm dedicating this chapter to **Nadia Callanan** - **your review went above and beyond! I totally used some of your ideas in here **(;** Thank you so much for that! And thank you to Icestorm51, your review was extra long too! Haha **:)**

**Also, **you guys seriously need to go check out GoldenIvy's story "Why Me?" if you haven't already! It's soooo good! And I'm serious, start at chapter 1, and then read every chapter leading up to the most recent** (;**

**One more thing: **Congrats to my reviewer Nicia - she just published her first fanfic **:)** It's called "True Love Never Runs Smooth", so go check it out and review it** :)**

**Thanks again to EVERYONE who reads and reviews this!**

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Instinctively, I wrapped my arms around Adrian in a hug. A moment later, I felt his arms snake around me, hugging back and holding me tightly.

"I'm sorry," I whispered into his shirt.

He didn't say anything. _Great, I was such a jerk that he has to decide whether or not to forgive me, _I thought. I looked up at him, and saw that he actually wasn't pondering my apology at all. He was staring wide-eyed at me, brows furrowed, as though he was genuinely confused.

"What is there to forgive you for? You had every right to say what you did. I should've at least tried to heal Dimitri. I should be the one apologizing, little dhampir, especially for my harsh words. Not you."

Unlike our last hug, Adrian was the one to pull away. He beckoned me inside and shut the door behind us, leading me over to a plush off-white sofa.

Once we were sitting, I shook my head. "No, I had no right to get so angry. I should've known it was hard for you, and I knew you weren't . . . um, practiced enough, to heal Dimitri."

Adrian smiled at my nice way of saying he wasn't skilled enough to heal a dead body. "Not your fault I'm not nearly as kick-ass as Lissa, little dhampir." His smile faltered a bit. "Speaking of dhampirs. . . . How is he?"

I smiled back, knowing who he was referring to. "He's fine. Dr. Olendzki revived him and they're doing a few tests to make sure he's okay. She'll send a guardian for me when he wakes up."

His eyes brightened. "I'm glad, little dhampir. Tell him the scorchingly-sexy and rich Moroi says to get well soon."

I rolled my eyes and punched his arm. "You're such a loser."

He caught my hand, kissing my knuckles with a rogue grin. "I'm a loser but you love me."

"That I do," I smiled. Then, on impulse, I reached forward and hugged him, once again catching him off guard. Wow, Adrian really didn't know what to expect anymore.

He laughed, not even getting the chance to hug me back before I pulled away, grinning. "What was that for?"

"For being you." Then I kissed him on the cheek quickly before releasing him and sitting back on the couch, smug.

His jaw dropped, and I almost laughed when he reached up to put a hand to the spot where I kissed him. My grin widened. "And that was for apologizing. Okay, I'm lying, it was for the hell of it. No, wait, still lying. I did it 'cause now that you're not interested in getting in this cute dhampir's pants, you've deserved it." I grinned.

Adrian still had a dazed look on his face. "I can die a happy man now. . . ."

This time, I did laugh. Hysterically. "Adrian, I don't know what I'm going to do with you."

"How about play strip poker?"

"Only in your dreams."

He sighed heavily. "You're right. It is. And who said I still don't want to get in your pants? Certainly not me."

Snorting, I got up from the couch. "Come on. You need to be caught up on the day's events, Lissa's about ready to send a search party for me, and I'm hungry. Let's go."

We got up and headed to the door. Adrian's hand was on the doorknob when the cell phone Lissa (rebelliously) bought me from the mall a couple of months ago started ringing.

I pulled it out and looked at the caller I.D. Adrian was staring at the cell, astonished and obviously about to ask me when I got it, but I held up a finger and turned my back to him.

"Hey Liss, Adrian and I are on our way." Gosh, I'd only been with Adrian for five minutes and she was already calling.

"Rose! That's not it!"

I squinted, confused, before realizing that her feelings in the bond had changed from worried to anxious and eager, like she couldn't tell me fast enough what was going on.

"A guardian just came looking for you! He's awake, Rose! Dimitri woke up!"

I almost dropped my cell phone. I was so enthusiastic to go see him that I didn't even bother saying bye to Lissa before hanging up and practically dragging Adrian out the door.

"Whoa, whoa, little dhampir! Slow down, I still have a hangover!"

I rolled my eyes, but stopped. Adrian almost fell over from the abrupt change in speed.

"You go and find Lissa. Dimitri just woke up, and I have to go see him."

He grinned and mock-saluted me before walking off in the other direction. "You'll be explaining to me later how you snuck that cell phone in here, little dhampir," he called.

I continued in the opposite direction, running as fast as my legs would carry me. All of my earlier exhaustion and aching disappeared. That's just how eager I was to see Dimitri. I would run a marathon if that's how far away he was. Not without complaining the entire time, of course.

I sprinted across campus, mentally cursing the world that guest housing was so far from the clinic. I mean, really, you'd think that it'd be right next door or something, just in case someone got hurt. But I suppose since it's only Adrian staying there, they figured he could heal himself.

I was panting heavily by the time I made it to Dimitri's room, and if my ankle could talk it would be screaming profanities at me. I didn't think I would ever get to go to sleep today, but at the moment that was just fine. I wouldn't leave Dimitri's side this time, no matter how hungry or sleepy I got. I didn't even care if I had to _pee_. I'd hold it.

I pushed the door open, and my heart went from thudding furiously in my chest to not beating at all when I saw his face.

He was sitting up against a pile of pillows, lying underneath a blanket, and looked up as I burst through the door. There was a battered western novel in his hands. And on his face was the most glorious smile I had ever seen. I just stood there, taking him in from head to toe. My heart had went back to hammering out a power ballad as I stared at Dimitri.

I barely even registered his words as he said, "You have a lot of explaining to do, Roza."

On impulse, I threw myself across the room, grabbing his face in my hands and kissing him on every square inch of it. Cheeks, forehead, eyes, nose, chin, ears, neck. . . . I saved his lips for last.

It was the sweetest kiss I could've ever imagined. His lips were warm and soft against mine, and I could've melted right there. I started to pull back, but his arm snaked around me and wound itself into my hair, binding me there as he deepened the kiss, turning it into something intense and passionate. I loved him so much.

And as much as I would've loved to kiss him like that for the rest of my life, I needed air. Badly.

I smiled into the kiss as I reached around me to untangle his hand from my hair. I held it in mine as I looked at him, out of breath, and said, "A girl needs to breathe."

He chuckled. "Roza. . . . I thought I told you to stay in the dorms."

I grimaced. Shit, I knew we'd have to have this conversation sooner or later. I wouldn't have minded later though. "I know, I'm so sorry, Dimitri. I couldn't wait that long to save Christian. This is all my fault. . . ."

Dimitri grabbed my chin with his good hand, pulling my face up to look at him. "Roza, this is _not_ your fault. It's nobody's fault, it's just something that happened. Don't blame yourself for me getting a few broken bones."

I stared at him, shocked. "A few _broken bones? _You don't know, do you?"

He frowned. "Know what?"

"Dimitri, you were dead."

His eyebrows furrowed in confusion, trying to make sense of my blunt words. "Rose, what are you talking about? I actually don't remember anything that happened after that Strigoi threw me."

"Because you were _dead!" _I insisted. "Dimitri, I was so worried about you! I was contemplating killing myself so I could be with you! You have no idea how devastated I was. . . ." I was caught up in the moment, remembering every painful detail of the experience as I rambled on.

Dimitri grabbed me and wrapped his arm around me, pulling me down to rest my head on his chest. "Shh, Roza, it's okay. I'm okay now. I'm so sorry I put you through that. I had no idea."

I twisted my head to gawk at him. "_You're_ sorry? I should be the one apologizing, Dimitri! You couldn't even focus on saving your own life because you were so worried about mine. I'm sorry I lied to you. I should've just waited."

He smiled wryly. "Maybe. But you did exactly what I would've did. The way you were so concerned about Christian shows that you're the most deserving guardian out there. I don't think anyone else is as dedicated to protecting Moroi lives as you are, and the fact that Christian most likely won't even be your charge proves your remarkable commitment. You're more worthy of your guardian title than anyone I know."

My eyes teared up at his praise. I reached up and kissed him. "Thank you. That means a lot." I smiled at him. "How about we just agree that we're both sorry, never bring up this argument again, and change the subject?"

He grinned and patted the spot on the bed beside him. "I can agree to that. Come lay with me. You look like you could use some rest."

I could. But that need could be ignored. I climbed up in the bed with him, careful not to put pressure on any of his injuries, but instead of sleeping I caught him up on everything that happened after the attack. He was sad to hear about Yuri, but glad that no Moroi or newly-graduated dhampirs were harmed too badly.

He also wanted to hear about what happened when I went to save Christian, and I explained everything in detail, especially the parts where we were so badass. I may have even exaggerated a little, but hey, a little zest to a story never hurt. Christian could thank me later.

Eventually, though, I did let myself finally fall asleep, reveling in the feeling of perfection of being wrapped in his embrace. For now, all was right in the world.

Maybe God existed after all.

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**I definitely think** I can finish this story in one more chapter, but I want to be sure if you guys want a sequel or would be content for me to end this with one last chapter, so could you please go to my page and vote? Again, THIS IS NOT THE LAST CHAPTER (yet), so do not fear **:) **

**By the way,** it's a blind poll, so don't start thinking there's something wrong with your computer when you don't see the results haha. I want the results to be a surprise, even if they might not be! Hahaha

**Also,** I think there's a bunch of great stories out there, so if you want me to put a shout-out for yours in my next chapter, don't be afraid to ask me! **:)** Love you guys!

**xoxo,**

Ryan


	26. Finale

**So here it is everyone! **The last chapter of Love, No Restrictions** :)** Sorry for the long wait, I've been so lazy lately haha. Anyways, onto the poll results: over 20 of you guys voted for a sequel, which was the majority! Thanks so much for taking the time to vote, it meant a ton! I'll definitely be doing a sequel. I'm not yet sure what it'll be called, but I'll put it on the top of my page as soon as I get it figured out, so keep checking back there for details! Enjoy **:)**

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"Oh my god, Liss, there's a Jacuzzi in the room. . . ."

I dropped my bags by the door and ripped off my top and shorts, making a beeline for the luxurious gold tub on the left side of the room. I moaned in ecstasy as I dipped a foot in, testing the water, before jumping in and immersing myself in bubbly goodness.

We had arrived at Court literally ten minutes ago, and Lissa and I were immediately shown to the room we would be sharing until our guardian assignments were known. We were previously at the Academy, stuck there for almost two weeks while Dimitri recovered enough to travel. Well, "stuck" was a strong word. We honestly didn't mind the extra wait, considering a ton of other students also had to stay there until everyone was sure there wouldn't be another attack any time soon. After it was announced that it was safe to travel, we stayed behind for another four days. Since dhampirs healed quicker than humans did, Dimitri was soon well enough to use crutches.

His major injuries consisted of a broken right arm and leg, and everything else was just bruises and cuts. His arm was still in a cast, but it was due to come off in another week or so. Thank God it wasn't something bulky. It was one of the colored ones, and his was, of course, black. It took us forever to find a metallic silver marker that would show up on it when we all signed our names and messages.

Dimitri wasn't the only one who was injured, though he was certainly the most severe case. A couple of days after the attack, Dr. Olendzki had caught up with me and demanded to give me a full-body checkup. I, of course, denied and told her it wasn't needed, but she wasn't having my attitude for once. We found out that when the Strigoi had thrown me into the wall back in the caves, I'd twisted my ankle pretty bad. I also had a mild concussion and lost some blood when he drank from me. The last two were fixed with bed rest and lots of fluids, and the doctor gave me an ankle-brace. I wore it for six days before deciding that it was stupid and I'd rather limp. But it did provide some help when I was wearing it.

Some good came out of everything, though. Since the attack cut our celebration off short, not everyone received stakes and guns. But two days after the attack, we were all handed our weaponry, and it was almost a shock that no one immediately pretended to shoot Kirova's head off, although it would've been pretty funny. Christian, of course, couldn't help making comments about how I "finally had a license to kill" and how "the only thing that made me happier than food was holding a gun". I told him he'd be the first person I'd test it on if he didn't shut up.

I could feel Lissa's eyes on me while I basked in the warmth of the Jacuzzi. I turned towards her.

She was smirking. "If your underwear shrinks, I'm not buying you a new pair."

I grinned. "You won't have to! I can use my guardian paycheck, plus the money I lifted off of Adrian on the plane." I reached over the edge of the tub to grab my shorts and pulled out Adrian's gold card, waving it in the air for Lissa to see.

Her jaw dropped, and she began laughing. "He's going to kill you when he finds out!"

I shrugged. "If he can catch me."

Lissa shook her head. "Unbelievable. You're bad, Rose."

"Maybe so. But we can at least go shopping before he finds out, right?" I gave Lissa my best puppy-dog face while she pretended to think it over. The bond already informed me that she'd agree.

She grinned. "Save the Jacuzzi for later, let's go get something to eat!"

Five minutes later, we were changed and ready. We left out the door, leaving the unpacking for another time as we charged down the hall to round up Christian and Eddie, who were sharing a room.

Their room was on the floor above us, so we didn't have to go far. The place we were temporarily staying in at Court was like a massive hotel, only homier. I knocked on the door.

But the person who answered it was neither Eddie nor Christian.

I felt a grin creep over my face, and I tapped Lissa's shoulder. "Hey Liss, look who it is."

Lissa's eyes widened. "Mia!" she squealed, wrapping her arms around the short Moroi girl.

Mia laughed. "Long time, no see." She stepped back from Lissa and held her arms out for me. I hugged her tightly, earning a few choking sounds from her.

Grinning, I released her and gave her a once-over. She definitely had a change in appearance since the last time we saw her, which was at Mason's funeral. She left to live at Court with her dad after that.

Mia's hair wasn't curled in perfect ringlets like it always used to be. Instead, she had it pulled back in a ponytail, and the pieces that hung around her face held a small natural waviness. Her skin was slightly tanner, which was unusual for a Moroi because of their aversion to sunlight. But apparently, someone had been getting their vitamin D. Her hands were also a little chapped and dry, kind of like mine were.

"Wow Mia, you look so different. . . ." I said.

She smiled and beckoned Lissa and I inside. Christian and Eddie were sitting on their respective beds, and Lissa, Mia, and I took a seat on the chairs around the room. "I've been hanging out with the guardians. They've shown me a few things."

Mia's looks weren't the only things that had undergone a change. Lissa's and my relationship with her had also transformed after Mason's death in Spokane. Mia's petty hatefulness towards us had diminished, and she wasn't shallow and immature anymore. Her mom's death had also been a pretty big factor in the personality-makeover.

Mia was actually a good friend now, someone Lissa and I didn't mind hanging out with. Now that she wasn't a heartless bitch anymore, we found out that she was pretty cool and down-to-earth.

Eddie laughed at my shocked expression. "Yeah, our Mia here's been learning some one-on-one guardian combat. Impressive, huh?"

I nodded. "I'll say! Does the Queen know?"

Mia rolled her eyes. "She doesn't, but I wouldn't care if she did. It's not like it's illegal, just frowned upon. Besides, I'm only learning some self-defense. It's not like I'm practicing offensive magic."

Christian smirked at her. "That's not what you told us."

Lissa's mouth opened into a perfect "O". "Mia! You're just as bad as Christian!"

Christian pretended to take offense, placing a hand on his chest in an overly-dramatic gesture. "Your words have cut me, Lissa. There's absolutely nothing wrong with using your magic for good."

"'Good' isn't the word I would use to describe what you and Rose do," Lissa muttered.

Eddie and Mia looked between Christian and I, confused. "What does Rose and Christian do?" Eddie asked, looking as though he almost wasn't sure if he wanted to hear the answer.

I grinned. "For the last two attacks, Fireboy and I have teamed up and hunted Strigoi like the couple of badasses we are." Looking at their horrified expressions, I continues, "I know you're probably thinking, 'Oh no they didn't!' But we so totally did." Christian and I grinned.

"You two are suicidal!" Mia gasped.

Lissa threw her hands up in exasperation. "See! My words exactly!"

Eddie shook his head. "You guys hate listening to orders, don't you? Moroi were supposed to stay in either the church or the dorms! And Rose, you just took him and went to hunt Strigoi! Why can't you two just behave?"

I laughed. "If I behaved, I'd die of boredom. Besides, it was a _guardian_ that gave us permission to go after Strigoi!"

"And you see where that got you two," Lissa grumbled, crossing her arms.

Mia's confused expression returned. "What happened?"

"I got kidnapped, Rose disobeyed Belikov and came after me, we kicked Strigoi ass and escaped, and then Rose found out Belikov was in the hospital because he couldn't focus enough to protect himself." Christian rolled his eyes as he finished.

I gasped, and then glared at Lissa. Lissa had a similar expression, only it was directed towards Christian.

It took Christian a while to figure out why we were shooting him dirty looks. When he finally realized what he said, his eyes widened as he muttered, "Oh shit. . . ."

I was the first to react. "You _told_ him? Lissa!"

She winced. "I'm sorry! He guessed, I swear!"

"Actually," Christian said, "Adrian technically spilled the beans. He made some comment about how Belikov was totally whipped, and then I figured it out from there."

"I will never understand how he put the pieces together faster than I could've," Lissa mumbled under her breath.

I sighed, ignoring her. "It was bound to come out anyways, I guess. I suppose Eddie knows too?"

He grinned and nodded.

"What the hell are you guys talking about?" Mia cried. "I'm so confused! God!"

I laughed at her expression. She looked like she was seconds away from having a breakdown. "Sorry, Mia. We're talking about my relationship with _Guardian Belikov_." I said his name suggestively, wiggling my eyebrows.

Her eyes widened. "You mean . . . ? Oh my god! I can't believe you, Rose!"

"What?" I asked, faking innocence. "It's not my fault he couldn't resist my stunning beauty."

Lissa rolled her eyes, and I heard Christian and Eddie give identical snorts. Mia continued to gawk at me. "How did this happen?"

"It's complicated."

"It always is," Lissa sighed, staring up at the ceiling.

Mia ignored her. "How far have you two gone. . . .?"

At that exact moment, Christian and Eddie jumped off the beds as though they were just electrocuted. "Okay, this is where we leave," Christian said. "I'm _so_ not interested in hearing about Rose's love life. Ew."

"Jealous!" I shouted after them as they left. Turning back to Mia, I said, "We did the dirty."

Before she could gasp another string of oh-my-god's, I stood up. "Come on, I'm hungry! Let's get something to eat before I attack the dry wall."

I tuned out Lissa and Mia's taunts and teases as we followed Eddie and Christian to a posh bistro place on the Court's grounds. After we all ordered, we found a comfy booth in the back of the restaurant.

"Hey Mia, I almost forgot to ask - what were you doing in Eddie and Christian's room?"

She narrowed her eyes at my suggestive tone. "I was on the third floor visiting one of the guardians on staff here and I ended up walking past Eddie and Christian's door. It was open, so I walked in and we started talking."

"I'm glad she noticed us," Eddie grinned. "Court is huge and Mia's staying pretty far away from where we're at. Who knows how long it would've taken us to find her?"

Just then, my cell started ringing, interrupting whatever Lissa was about to say. I fished it out of my back pocket and checked the caller I.D., then grinned at Lissa before answering.

"If you ever want to see your precious gold card again, you'll deposit a thousand dollars into a bank account for me."

Adrian growled into the receiver. "Are you kidding me, little dhampir? You're holding my _gold card_. That thing can buy a lot more than a thousand dollars can."

"You were totally stupid for telling me that, Adrian. Now you're never getting it back."

I hung up on him before he could respond. Almost ten minutes later, I was looking up as he walked through the door of the restaurant. I smiled innocently up at his angry face.

"Okay little dhampir, I'll strike you a deal: give me back my gold card, and I'll buy you whatever you want for a week."

I took a moment to think over his offer. It was tempting. Then, quick as lighting, I sprinted from my seat and ran out the door shouting, "No! You'll have to catch me!"

I laughed exuberantly as I headed for my destination. It would be the last place Adrian would want to come to.

"Dimitri! Open the door!" I screamed as I beat down his door so hard it was a wonder I didn't get splinters.

He opened it almost immediately, the door swinging open so fast I ended up face-planting the floor.

I groaned as Dimitri reached down to help me up. I rubbed my sore nose, and I saw him struggling to not laugh from the corner of my eye.

I glowered at him. "Shut up. Adrian's after me, and I'm not in the mood for your attitude."

He smiled at me as he bent down to place a kiss on my forehead. "Rose, if attitude could kill you'd be a weapon of mass destruction. And what did you do to Adrian this time?"

"I stole his major credit card." I shrugged indifferently. "He probably has tons more laying around anyways."

Dimitri placed kisses along my collarbone. "It's times like these that make me wonder how you ever made it to graduation."

I laughed. "With my good looks, of course."

His mouth traveled up to meet mine in a kiss. "Mm, I can't argue with that." He smiled at me.

I grinned and grabbed his shirt, pulling it up so I could place my hands on his stomach. I leaned in for another kiss, one that was more passionate than the last.

Dimitri backed up towards his bed, never breaking contact with my lips. He sat, and I worked on getting his shirt over his head. Before long, we were both down to our underwear and making out passionately on his bed. I wasn't even making an effort to be cautious of his arm, but I didn't have to feel guilty because he was the one being careful for us.

As we made love, I couldn't help but think how much hell I had suffered in the past few weeks. The man I loved died. . . . And then lived. Was it some kind of sign that he came back? Was there really a greater force working miracles, like Dimitri and Lissa believed? Dimitri once told me I had a guardian angel watching after me. I had denied it, saying I didn't believe in angels; only what I could do for myself. Had I been wrong? As much as I would've liked to believe that Dimitri came back because of the literal power of my love, _our_ love . . . I wasn't sure that was all.

Dhampirs sacrificed a lot to protect Moroi, so much that no one ever even realized. I didn't really want to say that we were taken for granted, but we kind of were. Lissa had once confessed to me that she would like children one day. Children, and a husband that loved her. A nice, pretty house and a beautiful wedding. Maybe a pet, but I had told her that might be a bad idea considering she'd be living with dhampirs. Everything Lissa wanted, she could have. But me? I couldn't have children, not with the man I truly loved, at least, not that I minded. I loved Dimitri, and if we couldn't have kids then that was fine with me. I wouldn't have a nice big wedding, though. I wouldn't even get the luxury of relaxing in bed with Dimitri for however long we wanted, not having to deal with the stress of facing every day knowing one of us could be taking our last breath in the next few hours.

No, sometimes Moroi didn't realize how good they had it. But I couldn't blame them. I couldn't blame Lissa, because it wasn't her fault. I wasn't even angry that I couldn't live that lifestyle because I loved being a guardian, and I loved being a dhampir. I wouldn't have it any other way. But it'd still be nice. . . .

Even though life obviously wasn't easy, especially for me, I was happy that things were, for once, working out. I didn't know what hardships the future would bring, but right now everything was perfect for me. I was a guardian, Dimitri was alive, my friends were here at Court with me, and most importantly: I could love who I wanted with no restrictions.

The only thing that would improve this moment was if Adrian stopped banging on the door and asking for his gold card back.

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**Please review! **Also, I can't thank you guys enough for continuing to read and support me throughout this story! I've enjoyed reading your reviews so much! I'd also like to thank everyone that took the time to give me such great ideas for this chapter, and I'm sorry if I didn't use all of them! But trust me, they definitely helped!

**Again, **any information on the sequal will be posted on my page. Thanks again everyone** :)**

**One more thing! **I've received a few questions about whether or not I send out snippets/sneak-peeks of the chapter-to-come. I didn't do that with this story because the thought never occured to be haha, but I can totally do it with the sequel if you guys want **:)** Just review or P.M. me saying you'd like to receive a sneak-peek of every chapter to come and I'll send it to you** :)**

**xoxo,**

Ryan


	27. AUTHOR'S NOTE 2

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

**I was asked by one of my lovely reviewers (I'm sorry, I can't remember the name) to post an update on the info about the sequel. The sequel name will be "Out of Reach", and there's definitely more action and less plot-less fluffy goodness, so the chapters are going to be longer. If you don't mind... And I'll send out a teaser (for those of you that wanted one) of the first chapter as soon as I finish typing it. So this is the last thing that will be posted for "Love, No Restrictions". Thank you all so much for putting up with my late updates and still continuing to review and support :)**

**Shout-out to Nicia and her story, "True Love Never Runs Smooth"! Go check it out if you haven't, it's amazing :)**

**Oh, and I'm SOOOO sorry I didn't do this in the last chapter! For my reviewer, Redheadtress: Go check out her first fanfic, "Loving is Sacrifing"! It's really interesting :)**

**Much love,**

**Ryan**


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